


When The Land Met The Sea

by SakuraMarie



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Mermaid Alternate Universe, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-12-19 14:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11899629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakuraMarie/pseuds/SakuraMarie
Summary: The balance of the Kwami domain is threatened when Nooroo is forcibly awakened. This awakens the two most powerful Kwamis into choosing two unlikely chosen to not only save Nooroo but the other inactive Miraculous from falling into the wrong hands.It doesn't help that one of the chosen is a awkward land challenged mermaid and the other is a shunned nobleman's son with almost limitless amounts of bad luck. It also doesn't help that their is a treasure hunter with an unhealthy obsession with the mermaid trying to steal her back and Akumas hunting them both down.





	1. Prologue

Long ago, the world was a different place. There were three known planes.  
The Domain of the Gods: The Kwamis  
The Domain of the Sea: which was ruled by Merkind  
And finally, the Domain of the Land: which was ruled by the humans. 

 

They did not live in perfect harmony but they tolerated each other for the most part. The domains tended to keep to themselves. This was until the humans and merkind got into more and more confrontations. It started with merkind getting upset at the humans, not only polluting their home, but using the ocean for so much travel. With all their seafaring ways, it was starting to become dangerous for merkind to travel safely. 

Slowly but surely, the two domains became more violent toward each other.  
It started with merkind using their voices to drag people under and drown them. Then the humans started fighting back with their superior weapons and slaughtered merkind in large numbers. Those who were not killed were kidnapped and never seen again. 

Eventually the Kwamis could not take the violence, and put an end to it by helping hand selected chosen from the two domains. They lent their strength to special chosen. These chosen were beings that were natural balances of each other and tended to be the best possible partners. The Kwamis themselves tended to work in pairs, and also tended to choose a merperson and a human. 

Eventually, a truce was made and things went somewhat back to normal, but the relationship between the domains was strained.

After centuries, things started to get hazy. The domains of the Gods and Sea began to retreat among themselves and the humans started to forget their existence. Written word began to flourish and oral tradition began to die out. Few humans decided that silly orally told stories were not worth precious ink and paper, and began to be forgotten. Humans started to value things they could see and silly mythical stories were just that, stories. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ladybug, Black Cat, Moth, Fox, Bee, Peacock, Turtle.

Those were the animals that the Gods would take to visit Earth, at least that is what the legends said. Ever since mankind was recording history, they recorded a tale of these tiny but powerful Gods. These powerful Gods can bond with humans and grant them vast amounts of power. All one had to do is activate their item, and they will have to help. Over time, most of the information was lost as mankind evolved and began to disbelieve the tales. 

However someone desperate for power found something they shouldn’t have, and now fully believes the myth. Someone who is now driven to find the most powerful of the Gods. Why settle for controlling one little God, when you can control more?

The ones that embody Creation and Destruction: The Lucky Ladybug and the Unlucky Black Cat. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is a beautiful kingdom under the sea. It seemed to sparkle to its citizens and was full of pearls and gold. It was also protected by a magical barrier that kept humans from discovering the main part of the kingdom, where all the merpeople live.

There is a reason this spell was in place: for centuries, merkind has hidden in their kingdom from humans. For many generations, there have been laws that prohibit merkind to stay far away from the humans. The humans are evil, barbaric things who did terrible things to their kind.  
In the beginning, merkind used to make themselves known to humans. However, after a century something started changing and the humans became more and more violent and barbaric. It was eventually decided that, to save their dying race, they should hide in their kingdom and not look for humans.  
Rules were put in place for the safety of everyone. There are three main rules that everyone in the kingdom MUST follow:  
1) Never be seen by humans  
2) Stay away from nets  
3) Never talk to humans

If a mermaid or merman gets caught breaking these rules it could end badly. From banishment to death, the consequences can be severe. The king claims it is for the good of the kingdom and most would agree. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Humankind is slowly evolving. They are moving away from the sea and starting to make bigger villages and cities. They have long since stopped believing in the Gods and in other mythical creatures. Things like mermaids and fairies only belonged in stories and were heard from the occasional drunk sailor. 

They become more obsessed with sciences and the art of warfare. Their weapons and methods of hunting became more violent and efficient. Those from the domain of the sea became terrified and began spreading more and more distrust of humans, wanting all to stay away from the two legged demons of the land.


	2. Meeting of The Domains

The sea was calm and clear. It seemed to be rather warm, it made sense to Marinette. It was summer after all. The time when the very ocean seemed to warm up all the way despite no sun being seen in the area she was currently in, she was too deep into the water for the sun light to even hit her.

"Marinette! Can you go do me a favor and gather some pearls for my mother?" Marinette sighs and turns to her best friend and employer, the Lady Alya Césaire. Alya grins and ruffles her hair "Girl, you need to get out some more. I am just giving you an excuse."

Marinette rolls her eyes. "Alyaaaa" she whines as Alya laughs.

"It is either that, or you can come with me and Nino and explore some of those sunken ships. "

Marinette goes pale; her cerulean colored eyes grow wide in fear. "T-That's so dangerous, Alya! You shouldn't do that! You could get hurt… again! You might see a human! What if you get caught?!" She shivers at the thought of one of her dear friends getting caught or seen by those barbaric humans.

"Relax Marinette! First off, even if I DO get another injury it will heal super fast, just like it always seems to! It's like magic!" Marinette stiffens a bit at this as Alya continues on, "Nothing will happen. Besides, I'll have Nino with me so I won't be alone and we will be nice and safe. He's even more cautious than you are!" Alya's hazel eyes twinkle in amusement.

"I know that… I grew up with him remember?" she grins "He is like a protective but relaxed older brother… he just… goes with the flow you know?"

They both giggle at this.

Alya grins, "Just get a lot of various sized pearls. You're so lucky in finding some really good ones!" She plays with her pearl hair piece and her naturally wavy hair kept getting caught in it. " You are, like, the best pearl collector in the whole kingdom! " She gives her a quick hug and swims off, "See ya in a few hours girl! "

Marinette giggles and waves back. " For sure! Only the finest pearls for a Césaire"

"Darn right! " Was the last thing she heard before she disappears for her ship exploring adventures.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien grunts as he pulls in his fishing net. It was heavier than usual and the fish seemed to be struggling a lot more. He had been doing this for years, ever since his bad luck pushed him to the sea, so it was not like he was a weak person. As he pulled the net close, the thrashing became more and more violent and he almost lost his grip. He planted his feet firmly to the ground and anchored himself so he wouldn't get pulled into the sea. After a tug of war that lasts a few minutes he finally gets the upper hand and pulls the net up and over the water bank. The thrashing and hissing continues as he pulls the net up and over to reveal a pair of big and frightened blue eyes. That wasn't what shocked him however. These blue eyes were attached to what first appeared to be a human girl. He panicked a bit, thinking he caught some random swimmer. However his breath seemed to be sucked out of his body when he saw her lower half. He saw a shimmery pink fish tail. His eyes widen more and more as he observes her.

Marinette had tried as hard as she could to try and escape. She was in so much pain and the blood seemed to spill out of her wound.

She winces, "Stupid.. spear!" She grimaced as she tried to struggle and had to hold her side to try and stop the bleeding.

She cursed herself for going too far looking for those pearls for Alya and her family. She should have fled when she saw that looming shadow coming toward her instead of just staying still and hoping she would be ignored. That stupid spear hit her hard in the side; she never understood why humans thought it was a good idea to throw these sharp things blindly into the sea. She cursed again under her breath. She wished her healing power would work on herself. If it had, she wouldn't have been in this situation. If she could have healed herself, she would not have been on the ground trying to deal with the wound. She could have seen the net and avoided it.

The pain shot through her and, in that moment, she lost her bearings and was pulled up and over the ocean bank. She was panicking as she felt herself being yanked out of the water and onto the dry sand. It was quite hot and uncomfortable. As she thrashed about sand got in her wound and she let out hisses of pain. . She stopped when she was momentarily blinded when the net is moved from her head and the sun floods in. She blinks and looks up into a pair of wide emerald colored eyes.

"No… no….no" she thinks as her own eyes widened and she started panicking.

She was in big trouble. She had been caught by a human, A gorgeous human, but a human nonetheless. This was strictly forbidden. It is forbidden to be even seen by a human, so being caught by one must mean she was just given a death sentence. She was going to die and she was terrified. It seemed like a lose-lose situation for her. If she escapes this human and returns she could be punished. She was terrible at keeping secrets that she knew. Word would get out and she'd be severely punished, she shuddered at the thought. If she didn't escape, she didn't know what this human was capable of. He could eat her or something. Humans ate fish and she was part fish. Her mind began to race with all the horrible worst case scenarios that could happen. She had been told stories as a child about how horrible and cruel humans were. Stories that all parents told merchildren to make sure they behave and always follow the rules. Stories from olden days when humans would catch merpeople and kill them or kidnap them, never to be seen again. She shrunk back trying to escape, trying to ignore the pain from her injury as the blonde fisherman just stared.

Adrien was a simple person. He was also a highly educated man, taught to know that things like fairies and Mermaids were silly fairy tales. He is shocked that a silly fairy tale is currently shivering in fear in his net. He than looks down and sees red in the sand; it dawns on him that she is in fact bleeding and injured.

In a gentle and hopefully soothing voice he tries to calm her down "Hey… Hey it's okay… Calm down.. I won't hurt you, I promise."

She had stopped thrashing but was still trying to retreat into the net as if it were a safety blanket. He than looks around and makes sure no one is near.

"I can help you … but you need to stay still and don't make a sound." He gently covers her with the net and bolts toward his little hut.

He violently swings the door open and searches for the first aid kit under his washbasin and runs back to the mermaid. He lifts back up the net and sees the mermaid trying unsuccessfully to remove the sand from her wound. She is clearly in pain. He sits her up ignoring her flinching and trying to reassure her she is ok with soft words. He than gets to work cleaning and bandaging her wounds. She hisses at the pain and digs her nails into his arms. He tries to work fast because she is beginning to thrash again.

Finally he finished and in a calming voice he tells her he is done. He rubs her back gently as she looks up at him and than back down to where her wound was. It was bandaged and she couldn't even see the blood anymore. The stinging from the special water he used was also gone and for that she was grateful. She tried to get back to the ocean but unfortunately could not get far without withering in pain.

"Hey! Just because it is bound doesn't mean you should just try to do too much movement! The wound is really deep. You need to rest and heal. He gently picks her up and lowers her into shallow water. Her fin seemed to be drying out and he figured that wasn't a good thing to happen to her. She was quite pretty, he observed now that they were both calm. It was also kind of strange that he could actually smell a unique scent from her. She smelled of the ocean of course, but there was something else he couldn't place. It weirded him out a bit and he looked away embarrassed.

Marinette looks at this human with hair like the sun and studies him. He didn't seem evil or barbaric at all. He had a very soothing and gentle voice. His eyes were also gentle and didn't have a hint of cruelty. Eyes were the window to the soul after all. He had a chance to kill or kidnap her but he didn't. He actually helped her and set her back into the water. She tilts her head in confusion when he looks away embarrassed.

"Why? Why did you…. Help me?" She finally asks him.

He looks at her confused. "Why wouldn't I help you? You were hurt," he asked as if it was the silliest question, and her eyes widened again. She could have sworn they could have popped out of her head.

This human seemed to be against everything she learned humans to be. "You… you are not going to kidnap me or something?"

He blinks, "Why would I do that?" He seemed almost insulted by such a suggestion.

She sinks into the water a bit at his tone and bites her lip but says nothing. He looks at her and holds out his hand so they can shake hands. "Hi, My name is Adrien." He smiles widely at her.

She looks at his hand confused and raises her eyebrow. However, she tries to mimic the gesture, "Hi… I am Marinette."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette was in no condition to swim back home, so she agreed to stay with Adrien for a few weeks. She felt bad about being unable to notify anyone back home about what happened, but she couldn't move too much without pain. Another fisherman could easily capture her, so she stayed where Adrien put her and hid whenever the few other humans in Adrien's life would visit.

One was a lady who had deep blue hair with a red streak pulled up into a tight bun. She had such a serious and stern expression all the time; Marinette learned that her name was Nathalie Sancoeur. She was the assistant of Adrien's father. Marinette found her interesting despite her usual stern expression. She, according to Adrien, not only helped him with his finances and schedules but also delivered messages from his father, a nobleman named Gabriel Agreste. Nathalie sometimes came with a man who was massive and silent. Adrien had nicknamed named him Gorilla.

The only other person who visited Adrien was a blonde woman about their ages. She always dressed lavishly and in blinding shades of yellow. Her name was Chloé Bourgeois and she was the daughter of the Mayor and of noble blood. According to Adrien, they had been friends since they could walk. Marinette didn't even worry about not hiding in time since she can always hear her high pitched "ADRIKINS!~" from a mile away.

That human had a set of lungs Marinette did not know were possible on a human. She was very annoying from what Marinette could overhear. From the quick glances she caught, Chloe made Adrien uncomfortable at times.

Every time she tried to latch on to him or kiss him Marinette glared and made little bubbles with her mouth in annoyance. She wished she could just tell her off and get her away from Adrien, but of course she could not, so she just sulked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know a lot about my life as a human but I don't know much about yours Marinette. He than grins "for all I know you can be a mermaid princess and you left your crown at home"

Marinette blushes and laughs "No, I am just an average little mermaid. I am a maid to my best friend, Lady Alya!"

He laughs "You sure? You act more like a princess than a maid"

She blushes "I uh… "

He laughs harder but grins "So tell me about this lady of yours, your best friend. "

Marinette smiles and begins to describe her very passionate and fiery best friend. She told him all about her inquestive nature, her interest in the unknown and usually dangerous.

" I-I think… we will both be the death of each other… S-s-she is always doing such reckless things! She tells me that I can be…. F-frustrating"

Adrien gives her a soft grin " Not like you are the very example of caution Princess"

She blushes at the nickname " s-stop that!"

"Nope" he replied in a lazy and smug way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien was gone again. He had warned her that his father had been acting a bit strange and wanted to see him more and more. Marinette sighs and plays with the little compact mirror he had given her with a pretty floral pattern, She was bored,,, so very bored. She missed Adrien, she missed his beautiful green eyes and his sweet smile…..

She chocked on her own spit as her eyes grew wide. Where did THAT thought come from her. She sinks all the way to the bottom of the shallow water and blows out little bubbles with her mouth. She could feel her face burning when she came to the realization that she dreaded. Her increasing day dreams of him and her newfound loss of proper communication. She never stuttered or messed up sentence orders before she met him.

A sudden noise of footsteps brings her out of her internal freaking out. He was back, she could just sense it. She also saw a bit of sunshine yellow hair reflected in some water.

"A-Adrien!" Marinette had just popped up from the water ready to see Adrien but he seemed gloomy.

She swam up to him and looked at him sadly, "W-what's… w-wrong?"

He sighed sadly and looked at her, "I really hate being reminded of my natural bad luck." He gently patted her head and she nuzzled his hand.

"You know you can't control it, and it's not like you asked for it! It isn't your fault!" she said passionately as she momentarily lost her stutter.

He sighed, "I know, I know…." He looks away as Marinette hoists herself out of the water and to his side. The tip of her tail still rested in the water. She petted his head.

"It wouldn't be so bad if people didn't keep reminding me and blaming me for everything when I'm anywhere nearby."

Marinette bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers. "W-Welll…. I –I have told been b-been … uh… Been told… I am Lucky good… I mean Good Luck… So.." She looks at him sweetly "I can help….er… Neutralize your um luck bad… bad luck."

Adrien smiled at her, "I always have felt luckier near the sea…. And I feel not as unlucky when I am with you."

She smiled widely as she nervously put some of the strands of her hair behind her ear "I glad am … am glad, to hear that. No matter what… "She smiles wider, "I will… a-always be here…"

"I will hold you to that Mari."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Marinette… is it, true?"

Marinette tilts her head in confusion.

"Ya know … the cliché that Mermaids can charm sailors and fishermen through song true? Like , all the myths say that all mermaids can charm anyone with their voice"

Marinette laughs outright at this " n–n-not quite… I know they are some mermaid and mermen who can charm with their voices but it is a rather rare ability now. .. I-I can also safely say that not all mermaids can sing beautifully … Lady Alya for example…. She sounds like a beached whale!" She laughs at a memory at a particularly terrible music lesson that left her poor music tutor ready to just jump into the nearest trench. "If you ever m-meet her… which I doubt… Never tell her I said t-that"

Adrien laughs "I won't say a word about it… from what you told me, she might kill me if I insult her., even if it is by accident"

She giggles "Y-yea…"

He looks at her sadly "I wish I could meet your friends though… they sound awesome. "

"Yea… but … y-you can't … we weren't even supposed to meet. .."

" I know …. It doesn't mean it's fair…"

"Rules are …. Rules are there for … a reason… s-safety "

He looks away "is that why you thought I was going to hurt you when we first met."

She nods 'for g-generations… we … we were told how humans w-were back then… and how they only ….got worse…. "

Adrien looks away "I .. am not going to lie… humans can be quite cruel , to animals and even other humans. I heard of quite a few sad stories involving human children being taken from their families for money and even when the families pay their child is killed… an innocent child… it is why my father kept me at home all the time until …. Mom disappeared… "

He sighs but then looks at her thoughtfully "still there is some good here on land as I am sure not everything in the MerKingdom is perfect"

Marinette nods "y-yea… "She then bites her lip "what.. What happened to her… "

Adrien looks at the sky "Honestly… I don't know…. But everyone blames me for it … My bad luck drove her out or even killed … they all seem to think that something happened to her because of my luck and all the weird and creepy stuff that seems to happen around him. "

"That isn't fair!" she huffs, her face showing clear anger. She slams her tail into the water to show her agitation. She was insulted on his behalf.

"Yea… but … one good thing happened" he said softly

"w-what?" Her anxious tone returns

"I was sent here and I met you"

Marinette squeaks as her face becomes bright red.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien is reading a book when Marinette sees him return.

"What's that..?"

Adrien looks up from the book in confusion "it's a book… why do you ask? "

"It looks weird … why is it so flat?

Adrien raises an eyebrow "how else is a book supposed to look like Princess?"

"The pages are supposed to look all wavy like a sea current!"

He blinks "what?"

"A-Alya explores sunken ships… which she isn't … s-s-supposed to do… b-but she does… and all the books she finds has wavy pages! "

It all clicks then and there "oh I see! The pages warped! He sits down and hands her the book "on land, they look like this, the pages are flat. Once it gets wet, it gets all wavy but it is also damaged."

Marinette thinks about this "t-that… m-makes sense… "She then looks at his hair " S-s-so… if your hair gets w-wet will I-it become wavy and ruined too? My hair doesn't feel r-ruined "She touches her still wet pigtails. It still has salt in it and it is limp but it does start to curl ever so slightly.

Adrien laughs " nahh , it will just become limp like a wet dog but once it dries it will fluff up a again. "

"a wet ..d-dog… what is that ? "

"a domesticated land animal that walks on four legs and is known as man's best friend . A lot of people have them as pets. Some for companion purposes and some for hunting but I am more of a cat person myself"

He looks at Marinette's confused expression and laughs "maybe I can teach you about animals sometime.. It must be kinda hard to visualize what I am talking about."

She nods and he grins "give me a few days, I can probably find a book with pictures of animals and teach you all about land animals!"

Marinette smiles "I-I-I would love t-that. "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette didn't want to go back home to the MerKingdom. The last two weeks were truly wonderful and she grew to love Adrien's company. It was obvious he enjoyed her constant company as well. However, her wound was healed and she knew her family, as well as Alya and Nino were probably beyond worried. She looked down at the now barely visible scar. In a few more days, perhaps even the scar would be gone. She sighed as she swam around a bit while Adrien looked on, his feet in the water.

"You should visit when you can," he told her gently as Marinette nodded.

"I-I want to, really I do…. But it might hard be… I mean …be hard. I am not… the best at being s-sneaky," she said with a wince. She had developed a small stutter around Adrien and it annoyed her that she couldn't stop herself.

"Yeah… I know." he said putting his arm on her shoulder as she slowly grew more pink in the face.

"W-w-well… I will …home … um….g-go home and … come back when I can." She gave a smile and started to swim backwards. She shyly waved back to him as he waved goodbye.

"See you later, "They say to each other in almost perfect unison.

She then turned and then dove back into the sea. The last thing he saw was her pink shimmering tail and a large splash.


	3. Captured

Alya nearly tackles her best friend when she appears at the front of her home.

"You stupid, STUPID MERMAID," she screeches. "Where did you go? You had us worried! You better have a VERY good reason for disappearing for two whole weeks!" She is now shaking the other mermaid like a rag doll.

Marinette bites her lip. "I do!" she tries to sputter out while being shaken. "I got injured and I couldn't move!"

Alya's eyes grow wide and she abruptly stops shaking her, "What?"

Marinette shows Alya the small scar on her side, " I was harpooned by some human fishermen and I couldn't move for a while so I hid in a cave to recover." She looks down, ashamed. "I'm sorry… I couldn't come back sooner… but it was so painful to move…." she said as her pretty pale pink tail swished nervously back and forth.

Alya looks sad and gently hugs Marinette "Oh sweetie…. I wish I knew! I would have sent you help as soon as it happened."

Marinette smiles sweetly "I know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette did not ever stop visiting Adrien. For months after she first left him, Marinette went to visit Adrien at random times. To avoid looking suspicious, she used the excuse of going pearl hunting. It gave her the excuse to be gone for long periods of time. Pearl hunting did take a while, no matter how lucky someone was. It was a peaceful and happy time for each of them. They lavished each other with attention and affection.

Adrien had never been happier in his life. Before he met Marinette, he was rather lonely. This was despite the irregular visits of Nathalie, Gorilla, and Chloé. Marinette seemed to be an adorable constant. She actually listened to him and was not so serious like Nathalie and Gorilla. She also did not latch on to him and try to force herself upon him like Chloé did every time she saw him. He didn't have to be as polished with Marinette as with everyone else. He was just Adrien the fisherman not Adrien Agreste, the son of an Earl. When he was with her, he did not feel quite as unlucky. She seemed to ooze good luck and even healing. However, he attributed that to being just her personality.

Marinette loved seeing Adrien. He was such a sweetheart. He seemed so happy to see her, and she basked in this affection. He was lonely and touch starved, it was obvious with how much he touched her shoulder, held her hand, or laid his head on hers. She slowly fell in love, and unbeknownst to her, she was getting very obvious to everyone back home. The only person who did not seem to notice her growing affections was an oblivious Adrien.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ya know, Marinette" Alya grins wickedly. Her friend turned around and instantly grew paler; she knew that look. It was the look of, "I know you have a juicy secret and I WILL make you talk."

Marinette gulps as Alya swims to her, "Girl… I must say… you suddenly have become very fond of pearl hunting… you go all the time when you have free time."

She smirks as Marinette tries to keep a straight face. "W-well…. O-one could never have too many?" Marinette says in a somewhat shaky breath.

Alya grins wider "Oh really? Where are they? All the pearls you collected?"

One did not need to be a genius to know Marinette was lying. Marinette was known to be one of the worst liars in the kingdom. " I… Um…" she tried to keep a straight face but inside she was starting to panic. She knew Alya was no dummy and could read her like a waterlogged book from the sunken ships she explored.

Alya starts swimming around Marinette like she was a hungry shark that smelled blood, "You know what I think Marinette? I think you don't go to look for pearls. Do you? You have been different lately~ " She grins as Marinette crosses her arms and pouts. "Something happened. First you disappear from the face of the kingdom for weeks, than you come back like nothing is wrong, and then you start sneaking off whenever you can!~ " She giggles evilly as she sees Marinette squirm. " I hopee~~~ you haven't found a new bestie because I would be so jelly~~ like a jellyfish~~" she said in a singy-song voice. She knew darn well Marinette didn't have a new best friend. She wasn't going to be replaced.

Alya continues, "You're more scatterbrained, and you daydream so much." She gets in her friend's face and smirks "You're in love! You are sneaking off to see someone! Whooo is it ~~?"

Marinette makes choking noises "N-n-no! I a-am looking for pearls!" She is making her panicking motions, as Alya calls them. "T-there i-is n-no m-mer person! I-I am not in love!" She turns her back to Alya, her cheeks were red as a lobster and she was pouting with her arms crossed.

Alya nudges the girl, "Tell meee~~ who is he~~ I got to know! Tell me! I have to know all the deets~"

"There is NOTHING Alya!" Marinette shouted, as she was trying to reign in her panic.

No one can know about Adrien, not even her best friend.

Alya smirks, she knew her friend would deny it till she was blue in the face, but she also knew better. Her friend was in love and was terrible at hiding at it. She was gonna try to trick her out of this info. She was going to get at least some information from her best friend. "So tell me~ are they cute? "

Marinette bites her lips and makes a strangled noise.

"I will take that as a yes," Alya says in an excited voice.

Marinette turns around quickly and tries to glare, but she didn't do a good job of looking intimidating when she was blushing like she was.

"Mari !~ C'mon give your bestie a hint~ I know you seem to have a thing for blondes~ "

Marinette blushes so hard "N-no! "

Alya grins, "Girl it's fine~ I saw you staring at some cute blondes a few years ago ~ "

"It was silly lil thing!"

"You have a type! It's ok! "

"I am done with this conversation!" She does a half glare and half pout as she crosses her arms like a angry child. Her tail thumps on the ground and flies up a bit.

Alya laughs, "Okay, okay! Fine, I'll leave ya alone." She then smirks. "For now," she thinks to herself.

She pats her Marinette's shoulder and her friend obviously relaxes. She looks relieved and thankful as she looks at her friend, unaware that Alya was already plotting a lil trip with Nino to follow Marinette when she goes "Pearl Hunting".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alya's plan started a few days after the conversation with Marinette. She drags an unwilling Nino with her as she goes to secretly follow Marinette.

"I don't know about this, babe…" Nino says in a wary tone. " Marinette is like a sister to me… this is like an invasion of her privacy…"

Alya rolls her eyes, "Oh come on, aren't you curious? Maybe even worried?"

Nino raises his eyebrow a bit.

She nods, "Why did she even disappear for so long the first time? She was so dodgy about it, and we all know that she couldn't have taken care of her injury all by herself. She said so herself, she could barely move… remember? Someone HAD to have taken care of her!"

Nino nods and looks away "Still…"

"Still nothing! We need to check on her! We, as her best friends, need to look out for her!"

He sighs, knowing there was no way he can talk Alya out of anything. He just nods and follows after his secret girlfriend.

Alya is a master of being sneaky, having to hide and be stealthy when she explores sunken ships. Marinette is none the wiser as she swims past the pearl hunting area. She swims closer and closer to the shore.

As they get closer to the shore, Alya and Nino began to be very worried. She was getting very close to where the humans were. Humans were dangerous to any aquatic life; Marinette knew this. Marinette was such a cautious mermaid, so why would she literally flirt with danger?

Marinette shoots up suddenly, just before she hits a sand bank, and a loud splash could be heard to the two hidden Merpeople. They then swim up and break to the surface near a rock formation. Alya is the first to surface, and is shell-shocked by what she sees. Marinette is on the surface talking to someone… a blonde human. Nino pops up, and before he has time to say a thing, Alya begins to shake him roughly.

"She is talking to a human! Why is she talking to a human!?" she hisses as she shakes the now shell-shocked Nino.

Nino is speechless. What else could he say? His childhood friend, the one who followed the rules and was dependable for the most part, was breaking the biggest rule in the Merkingdom. This was a big deal and he had no idea what to do with this information. Marinette could be in trouble or even in danger if she keeps doing this. He was worried, very worried.

Alya, on the other hand, could not stop talking. "She is visiting… A HUMAN !" she hisses, trying to keep her voice down. "A HUMAN, Nino! The girl has lost her mind!" she then looks horrified "Oh.. .no"

Nino turns his head nervously, "Oh no … what?" he sounds a bit terrified for his friend.

"Nino… if he is who Marinette has been seeing when she goes Pearl hunting…. I think she's in love with him."

Nino face goes pale, "No way… I really hope you're wrong… I REALLY hope you're wrong."

Alya raises her eyebrow, "You're kidding, right. You have seen how she's been for a while now… that's the sign of a mermaid in love, and he does match a preference of hers… blonde. Also, she hasn't been seen around any mermen… Well, except you." She then looks at him with a half grin, "And I doubt she would be going after her best friend's man. She isn't that type of girl."

Nino nods in agreement, "Yes, she isn't that type of girl."

They continue to spy on their friend and the human. They are both in an animated conversation. They can't really tell what is being said or see Marinette's expression, but it is clear that she is excited just by her hand and tail motions. The Human, on the other hand, has a wide smile and a soft expression in his eyes. He is lying on the bank on his stomach and almost seems entranced.

Nino sighs again, "Al… What are we going to do? This is bad… Really bad."

Alya looks determined, "We HAVE to confront her."

He then looks at her, "And deal with her anger that we followed her and invaded her privacy? YOU can do it, but I won't. She may be tiny, but she can be a little powerhouse." He shudders at a memory from a year ago when he angered her. Not a pleasant experience. "I rather tempt a bull shark when they smell blood."

Alya bites her lip and thinks about this. "Hmmm… Give me a few days… I will figure something out. We have to somehow make this end, and soon, For her safety." She looks at Nino, "And for the rest of our kind. She is being reckless…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette giggles as she tells stories of her home to Adrien. She had so many stories, it could last for months. She relishes in the fact she can make Adrien happy and take away the sad and lonely look he tends to have. These secret meetings were the highlight of her day.

"…. So they started dating. I love Nino, I do, but I never felt that way for him. We were like brother and sister so it felt kind of…"

"Strange? Weird?" Adrien offers.

Marinette nods, "Y-yeah… but I am glad it happened. Him and Alya are great together. They… um… balance each other so well! They think I don't know they're together, but I know all~" She giggles but then stops and sighs, "I just wish the stigma they face didn't have to happen. I wish they could be open about their relationship."

Adrien nods, "Maybe someday, they can." He lies on his back so he can look at the clouds. "Who knows? Maybe it can be like a fairy tale my parents used to read when I was a kid, and true love will win in the end." He smiles at her, "You kinda make me believe in them again."

Marinette blushes so much she looked like a lobster and dives into the sea to hide her shame. She does, however, return fairly quickly and peeks out of the water. Only the top of her dark blue hair and her cerulean eyes can be seen by him. He laughs at her reaction and she shyly laughs with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloé is excited. She had her servant, Sabrina, place her new bee hair comb in her perfectly styled hair. It was a gift she got from her father, who bought it from a treasure hunter named Théo Barbot. Théo was not only an artist but a highly experienced treasure hunter. He always had the most beautiful and unique pieces from all over the world. The comb itself was rather heavy and well made. It was made of gold and when the light it just right, it made the bee wings look almost iridescent. She admired herself in her beautiful golden mirror.

"You look beautiful, ma'am." Sabrina said meekly as she finishes preparing Chloé

Chloé smirks, "Of course! I am ALWAYS beautiful. I have to be! As the mayor's daughter and the future wife of my beloved Adrikins~"

She twirls in front of the mirror and shoos off Sabrina. She makes her way to her lovely carriage that oozed wealth and status. She was off to the seaside to visit Adrien. She just had to show off her lovely new hair comb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette blushes as she hears stories from Adrien's past. He held her hand and swung it from side to side. He mostly told stories about him and his mother.

"S-she seemed ..um… like such a lovely lady. B-both inside and out," she said with a smile after he mentions that people said that he looked like her.

"She was… I bet she would have loved to meet you."

They were so into their conversation, they did not notice the faint cry of "Adrikins~"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloé gets out of her carriage and picks up her skirts so she can run to Adrien. She calls for Adrien and she sees his hut. She calls for Adrien but her voice quiets down when she sees him lying on the sand on the shore. She hides behind the hut and looks some more. She hears his voice but also another voice, a distinctly female voice. She scowls and one could almost feel the jealousy and anger radiating from her. She was the only girl Adrien should be talking to. Who did this girl think she was!?

She peers over, trying to see through Adrien to see this girl. She than hears a splash and a giggle; she then catches something pink and sparkly. She sees it, a fin. A large fin. Her eyes grow wide.

"It can't be…." She whispers, but Marinette moves just enough to confirm Chloé's suspicion. Adrien was talking to a mermaid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloé is waiting impatiently in her parlor for Mr. Barbot. She crosses her arms, seething. She not only hated waiting but she was more annoyed that someone else had her Adrien's attention. She was going to get rid of her competition. One way or another, she was going to have Adrien.

Her ears perked up when she heard the door open. Sabrina had opened the door, and behind her was Théo Barbot. He was older than her by a few years and seemed to favor wearing deep purple. His brown hair was in a bun behind him and a satchel hung from his shoulder.

"I have a preposition for you." Chloé said, after Sabrina had left the room.

Théo raised an eyebrow at her, "Oh really?"

"I have come across…. A rather rare treasure recently."

He looks confused, "A rare treasure?"

Chloé grins wickedly, "What if I told you… I know of the location of rare creature? One of myth?"

He is even more confused, "What are you implying? I hunt treasure, not animals."

She giggles wickedly, "What if it isn't JUST an animal. I am talking about a mermaid!"

He nearly chokes on air. "A mermaid? Are you kidding me? You must be! Mermaids do not exist."

Chloé gives him a small glare, "Are you calling me a liar?"

Théo stiffens, "No… I am just…. Shocked by this." He was not going to anger the daughter of one his best customers. She may sound crazy, but he may as well indulge her.

She leans over the arm of the chair. "Trust me, she is very real. Imagine this; you capture something as rare as a mermaid. People would pay you a lot of money to add something like her to a collection. Imagine your reputation. What can be more rare and treasured than a mythical mermaid?"

He looks at her thoughtfully, "That is true…"

She smiles back at him, "Then let me give you all the details…."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was already getting dark; the moon was rising in the sky. She normally isn't out that late, but she just wanted to look at Adrien. She could see him in his hut. She had memorized his schedule so she knows he is already in bed. She peeks up and smiles as she sees him peacefully smile. She finds a hidden bag near a rock formation that Adrien had left her. In it had some little things including a human hair brush. She loved the brush; it seemed to make her hair look so nice. As she dives back down to brush her hair she doesn't notice the figure lurking in the shadows.

Théo Barbot squints when he sees the girl come up from the water. He is shocked to see her, it is almost as if Chloé was right. He opens his bag and pulls out a smoke bomb. The smoke bomb would not only fill the area with smoke, but knock out anyone nearby. He makes his move as soon as the girl went back into the water. He peers over into the water and sees her brushing her hair. He can't see much but he has just enough to aim the bomb just in front of her. He throws the bomb and it explodes just in front of her. The area starts filling up with smoke and he dives in to get her. He watches her gently fall down to the sandy floor. He holds her bridal style and swims up. As soon as he hits the surface he looks down at the sleeping mermaid and studies her.

"I don't believe it… The Bourgeois girl was right…." He said looking down at her limp form, utterly shocked.

He lays her down on the sandy beach, and looks into his bag and pulls out a blanket. He dunks it in the water and gets it soaking wet and wraps it around the mermaid's tail, unsure if she needed it or not. He then lifts her up again and races back to his carriage and rides off quietly into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette groans as she tries to wake herself up. Her head was pounding and she shifted. The water was oddly cold, not the lukewarm water she was used to. She stirs some more and begins to wake up. She slowly forces herself up and when her vision gets less blurry, she takes a look around. She makes a disturbing discovery; she was not in the ocean. She didn't know where she was but she knew it wasn't the ocean. She was in a weird glass box and she goes a bit pale. This was bad, very bad. She looks up and sees two men beyond her glass prison. They seem to be negotiating something and she frowns. Clearly these two humans were talking about her.

"How dare they…" she growls.

They notice her looking at them and they make her way to her. She goes right up and angrily bangs on the glass. The brown haired human looked taken aback and looks like he is trying to calm her, while the other, whose face was almost completely covered in a silver mask, just watches intrigued. She was clearly upset. One of these humans had kidnapped her and she was not going to just sit quietly. The brunette human looks sad and is talking to her. She can hear him through the glass.

"Hey, Mermaid, it's ok… I'll take care of you."

Marinette glares at him "Go away, human!" she said in an irritated voice. Her tail thumps harshly on the ground, sand and gravel fly up. She crosses her arms and swims up and into a cave-like structure. She had to get some privacy from these kidnapping horrible humans. She slides down on the wall and starts to cry. She was truly scared, the stories her parents told were coming true and now she will never see her home and Adrien ever again.

Théo sighs and looks depressed as the beautiful mermaid swims off in agitation in the artificial cave he created.

"She is …quite a feisty little thing, isn't she?" the masked man said in a silky voice. "Who would have thought … A real life mermaid… a thing of myth and legend… I wonder… If she exists,… what other legends and myths are true?"

The treasure hunter turns to his patron, "I wouldn't know, Duke Hawkmoth. Honestly… I didn't know about her until a client told me she saw one."

The Duke raised an eyebrow but this motion was unnoticed as the mask covered up everything but his moth and eyes. "Really…. How interesting."

Théo simply nods and look back toward the cave, 'I hope she doesn't spend all her time in there…"

"Indeed, she'd make a lovely addition to my aquarium…"

"Your Grace, She isn't for sale." Théo replied quickly, "I refuse to part with such a beautiful creature. I have plans for her."

The Duke looks at him with an annoyed expression, "Won't you get bored of her? Can you actually keep her healthy? You are not exactly wealthy."

"I already thought of that. I can let people see her when they pay admission."

"It isn't a stable plan… Once the novelty wears off, what will you do?"

"I don't know… but I will think of something."

"My offer will still stand… just don't make me wait too long, Théo." With that the Duke turns on his heel and exits the building.

Duke Hawkmoth walks to his carriage and as it begins to move, he begins to plan. That mermaid… he had a feeling she was special. Just special enough to maybe draw in a Kwami. He touches the moth shaped broach on his tailored jacket. As powerful as Nooroo was… he was just not enough, and was not able to fufill his goal. He needed more Kwamis, he wasn't going to back down because Théo decided to become seemingly infuated with a mermaid. He didn't want to make this difficult, but his hand was forced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cave was dark and cold and Marinette was miserable. The tears she shed seemed to almost blind her, making anything she could see through the limited light a blur.

A bright light draws her attention and makes her look up. She rubs her eyes to clear her vision. The light is in the shape of a sphere and there is something red in it. She gasps when she sees a little red creature. She panics a bit.

"What on EARTH!" she screeches as the little red thing tries to calm her down.

"Marinette! Calm down please!" The little red thing flew up to her face and put two little comforting hands on her face and looks into her eyes. "It's going to be okay," she said in a soothing and motherly voice. "I am here to help you."

Marinette calms a bit "H-Help me…?"

The little red being smiles, glad the little mermaid was calming down, "My name is Tikki, I am a Kwami, … I have the powers of a God… you can just think of me as the Goddess of Luck and Creation. I was awakened because one of my fellow Kwamis was captured and now enslaved."

"But how can I help? I got captured myself! Besides I can't move on land." She shows off her tail to emphasize her point.

Tikki smiles brightly and magically makes a pair of earrings appear. They are red with black dots and rather small. Tikki plops the earrings into Marinette's hand. "Put these earrings on and I will grant you my powers." She than spends hours explaining what kind of powers and abilities she can grant Marinette if she decides to become the Miraculous Ladybug.

"So… Lucky Charm will give me an item I have to use creatively to win… and throwing the lucky charm in the air can let me do Miraculous Cure?" Marinette asks.

Tikki nods, "Correct. However, you must remember, once you summon lucky charm you will only have five minutes before you detransform which can be dangerous for you if you are not in a good place where there is water nearby. I can only give you legs as Ladybug. If you aren't transformed, I can't do much."

Marinette nods in understanding, still apprehensive about all this.

Tikki looks at the mermaid and smiles, "It's ok, I promise you won't be alone. I wasn't the only Kwami to awaken. You will not fight the Akumas alone. You will have a partner… a black cat…"

Marinette pales, " C-cat?! D-don't they eat fish like me?!"

Tikki giggles. "Oh no! Plagg only eats cheese… Not sure what his chosen will eat, but I highly doubt mermaids are in his general diet. By the way Marinette, I need cookies to recharge anytime you transform. It is going to take a lot of energy for me to do all this for you."

Marinette looks down at the earrings in her hands and Tikki flies to her hands, "Come on… put them on… for freedom!"

Marinette bites her lip but puts them on; doubt was obvious in her movements.

Tikki hugs her cheek, " We will be alright Marinette."

Marinette blinks and takes a deep breath, She rubs away any remaining tears and puts on a determined look.

"Let's get out of here, Tikki!"

Tikki cheers and goes to look outside the artificial cave and sees Théo still there. "Well… we have to wait till he is gone tonight, but then you can transform and escape!"

Marinette nods, "Alright."

"Trust me, once you transform it will become clear to you. You will just know how to do certain things. It will be fine! I promise… I am the Kwami of Good Luck after all!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hopefully in a few days this version will have caught up to the ff.net version and the two works will sync up again. 
> 
> Comments, Kudos and Favs make my day~
> 
> Art Masterlist here: http://sakuramarie.tumblr.com/post/164577943471/master-list-for-when-the-land-met-the-sea


	4. Confrontation

Alya is worried… and when is Alya is worried she gets agitated.

Nino watches warily as Alya pace back and forth. An agitated Alya was never a good thing and anything could set her off. He rather face a raging shark. At least he knew what to expect. He had no idea how to help the situation.

Alya glares at her secret boyfriend. "Considering what we know and what happened last time" She crosses her arms over her chest, fuming.

Nino opens his mouth to reply to her but is caught off by Alya.

"she disappeared for two whole weeks! I have every right to be worried out of my mind! She didn't even tell anyone she left last night. There is no way she went pearl hunting at night!"

Nino looks away and sighs; he had nothing to say to that. Marinette has been acting more and more odd, and they can only assume it had to do with that human she was secretly meeting.

"I am giving that human a piece of my mind," Alya growls as she grabs a nearby weapon for her to use against the blonde human that she was sure held her best friend hostage.

Nino's head snaps to attention. "What!" he screeches as Alya swims away toward the pearl hunting grounds. He swims as fast as he can towards Alya, trying to calm the raging mermaid.

"Alya, calm down, you can't confront him!"

"I can and I will! He knows where she is and I will not leave until she is back home. Then I will put her on house arrest till she is an old mermwoman!"

Nino grows pale, the two of the most important mermaids in his life will be the end of him. He just knows it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien is on the beach waiting for Marinette. It was odd; she normally came around this time. He hadn't seen in her in a few days. He wondered if he should feel worried or if she simply couldn't get away from the kingdom. He looks at the sea for a bit and sighs. He is about to get up when something comes out of the water.

He grins widely, " MARI….. nette?"

Instead of Marinette he sees two figures. A dark skinned young man about his age. He has golden brown eyes and dark hair. He looks at him warily with a weapon drawn. However, he doesn't have much time to dwell on him because he is nearly attacked by a VERY angry mermaid with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. Those same hazel eyes were full of rage, and if looks could kill, he'd be a very dead man.

"Where is she?" she growls much like a feral animal, her shimmering purple tail was slapping the water very hard, clearly agitated. "Release her RIGHT NOW human!"

Adrien is now terrified. He backs away as far as he dares. He had a feeling he knew who this was and according to Marinette, he was in a world of trouble and he better tell the truth. However he didn't think Lady Alya would be this terrifying.

"I haven't …. I haven't seen her in three days! I thought she was too busy or something!"

"A likely story!"

"It's the truth! The last time I saw her, we talked and she left a few hours later. There was still plenty of time in the day!"

Alya continued to glare at him like if he slapped her mother and ran off. He had no idea how to make this near rabid mermaid not kill him.

Nino looks at the utterly terrified human, and sort of feels bad for him.

"Did you hurt Marinette?" he asked, his tone icy.

Adrien looks at him with in very clear disbelief, clearly insulted at the suggestion, "Why on earth would I hurt one of my closest friends! If I really did, I wouldn't have helped heal her when she was harpooned!"

Nino glances at his girlfriend and makes her gently lower her weapon, "Babe…. Something is telling me he is telling us the truth. If he wanted to do something horrible to Marinette he would have done it sooner."

Adrien sighs in relief, at least someone believed him.

Lady Alya seemed to calm down but still looked at him with even more hatred than most of the villagers did when he was near. He gulps, quite sure she might just consider killing him for having dared being friends with Marinette.

"Well her disappearing had something to do with you! Cause she wouldn't be gone if she wasn't sneaking around to see you! So you now have to help us find her!" Alya said in a very aggressive tone.

Adrien nods, "Of course! If I had known earlier I would her looked for her sooner."

Adrien looks at them and then around. "We should look for clues. She usually stays near here or over there." He points to a rock formation where she hid when there was danger. He had put a bag for her amusement. It was like her little room and he rarely went there.

The other two merpeople follow him warily, looking around for clues. Alya is closer to the Adrien and Nino is further out to sea. All of them were training their eyes to look for something suspicious or out of the ordinary.

Alya is the first to arrive and sees something odd on the sea floor near the area Adrien claims is her area. She swims to it. It is a wooden thing with a little M on it, flowers she has never seen before and a little red and black spotted creature. It looked like a weird version of a mermaid hair brush. She grips it hard and swims up to Adrien and sticks it in his face.

"Is this important?" She huffs.

Adrien blinks and takes it and grows pale, "Yeah…. I got this for her…Where did you find it?"

"On the seafloor, it was all by itself in the open."

"It shouldn't be… It is usually in her area in a bag…." He looks into the rock formation and pulls out a worn leather bag that was once his. " It should be in here with all her other stuff. She told me she loved that brush and I told her she should keep it out of the water for long periods of time."

The three of them look at each other with a look of worry.

Nino rubs his nose bridge, "Ok so Marinette is missing and her leaving this is suspicious." He said, looking at the hairbrush that was now in Adrien's hand. He than looks up and sees the sun starting to set. "Alya… we need to go before a search party is sent for us… We should come back tomorrow after we look for clues. You and I need to search the sea…" He then looks at Adrien "And the human boy needs to look for clues here on land."

Adrien nods. "Will do."

Alya growls but agrees, "Let's go…" She glares at Adrien. " I will keep my eye on you Pretty Boy"

Adrien gulps, Marinette was right, Alya was intimidating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adrien was worried. He was fidgety and was absentminded. Marinette has been missing for days. For days he has been sneaking around town and the seashore trying to find any clue of Marinette. He was lost and running out of options.

It did not help when Chloé kept dropping in during his searches.

Chloé was bored. Adrien being the way he was right now, was not fun. She rolls her eyes as he continues to look all over the place as if he was searching for something important.

"Adrikins~ You are so tense ... Come! We must go shopping." She grabs his arm with such force he has to take a step back. She is stronger and clinger than he remembered. She gives him no choice in the matter as she forcibly drags him through the town. Her maid, Sabrina, was trailing them like a lost puppy.

After about half an hour of Adrien being mercilessly being dragged through stores, she stops in front of a large poster.

"Coming soon! A travelling show of mythical proportions! A Mythical Creature of your dreams will be revealed!" the sign proclaimed.

Adrien's eyes grow wide, "A Mythical Creature?" He seemed uneasy.

Chloé grins wickedly, "I heard it was only an ugly worthless mermaid!"

Adrien's face grows pale, "A m-mermaid?!" He instantly thought of Marinette and starts to panic.

Chloé sees the emotions through his eyes and immediately regrets opening her mouth. She knew she messed up. " I mean… it could just be a lie. You know an advertisement ploy!"

Adrien had already turned on his heel and sped off back to his home. He ran as if the fires of Hell were after him. He ignored Chloé's shrill calls for him to stop and return to her.

He arrived at the shore near his home in record time. He finds Nino waiting for him, hidden among the rocks. He informs Nino that he thinks Marinette was captured by someone in a town a few days journey from where they were. Nino grows deathly pale, what he and Alya had feared had come true. Marinette was caught somehow and they couldn't help her.

"I am going to track her down," Adrien assures the distraught merman.

"You better." Nino said in a tone that was icy and worried at the same time.

Adrien nods, "Trust me. Even if I didn't have you two threating my very life, I would have done it. She is one of my closest friends… a real friend."

Nino just looks at him with a dumbfounded look and then slowly nods "Bring her home. I trust you … for some reason." He then sighs " I better tell Alya…"

Adrien lets out a small grin "Good Luck."

He then stands up and runs into his cottage while Nino dives into back into the ocean.

Once inside his cottage, he begins to look for a bag to toss supplies in. His mind is racing with various thoughts, trying to come up with a plan. How was he even going to find her? He only had a vague idea of where she could be.

He is stopped in his tracks when he sees something black hovering in his room. He turns around and takes a look at the new addition to his room. He sees a small black cat with striking green eyes. He had a very mischievous and knowing look on his face. He held a silver ring in his tiny little hands.

It grinned as it flew up to the startled human's face. "Do you want to save your little mermaid friend? I can help! All you have to do is put this ring on and BAM! You got powers!"

Adrien's eyes lit up while the little floating cat grinned "Name is Plagg! All I need is Cheese! Specifically Camembert! Then you can turn into a super hero: the black cat of chaos and destruction."

Adrien smashes the ring onto his finger and looks at Plagg with a look of excitement.

"All you have to say is "Plagg, Claws Out" and…"

"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"

Before the little black cat could finish speaking, he is sucked into the ring. Green lit up the room and filled the small cottage and pouted out the windows. The light show lasted for less than a minute and instead of Adrien in his usual outfit was him in a black cat themed leather suit. His look even included a black mask, ears, and a tail made of a belt. Adrien looks at himself and is utterly ecstatic.

He grins while sounding determined, "Time to save Mari!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, Kudos and Favs make my day~
> 
> Art Masterlist here: http://sakuramarie.tumblr.com/post/164577943471/master-list-for-when-the-land-met-the-sea


	5. Reunion

It's been days, so many days since she had been captured. She did not know how many days she had been captured. All she knew was that it was too long. The brunette human did not leave often. He stayed at the warehouse, trying to coax her out of her cave. She knew his name but she did not care to use it. She will never forgive him and makes her disgust for him known. She only grew more agitated the longer he stayed and Tikki did her best to calm her angry charge.

"If only I could just transform and leave," she grits.

"Marinette… You must be patient; you have to wait until he is gone for a few hours. It will be unwise for him to know you now have this power."

Marinette nods, "I know… it is just… he won't leave! Ugh! I want to go home already… Alya will murder me…." She shivered at the thought of what will happen at the hands of Alya.

Occasionally, Marinette would peek out to see if the human was out, and on most nights he was but this time he wasn't. For once since her capture, she didn't see him. She hummed happily as she realized this.

"Tikki! He isn't here!" She said happily as Tikki peeks out from Marinette's pigtails.

Tikki nods as they both look around. "Ok, let me check real fast. If he is truly gone than we can finally transform and escape."

Tikki phased through the glass as Marinette swims up to the glass wall. Her face pressed into the glass like a child.

After a little bit of time, Tikki returns to Marinette with a large smile. "He is gone! All of his stuff is gone! He might have gone home! He usually leaves his stuff here if he is still here."

Marinette's face seems to glow and she twirls around. "Let's get out of here!"

Tikki smiles, "Say the words, Marinette!"

"Tikki! Spots on!"

Her first transformation was interesting. It made her feel all weird but warm. She hesitantly looks at herself. Her tail was red with black spots all the way down to her fins. The tail end seemed to extend past its usual spot and goes all the way up to up almost to her collarbone. Scales in the red and with black spots also continued from her hands all the way to her shoulder. A red and black spotted mask covered the upper half of her face and her pearl high ties morphed into red bows. There was also a yoyo on her hip, and overall she suddenly feels more powerful.

She looks down at the yoyo and grabs it. She peeks out and makes sure that no one is around. The coast was clear and she swims up to the top of her glass prison. It was black and oddly shaped. She swings her yoyo in a circle in a rapid movement. The yoyo goes faster and faster, hitting the top of the lid until it finally flew off. It makes a loud noise when it hits the floor. She winces at the noise but when no one comes running in, she breathes a sigh of relief.

She hauls herself over the edge of the glass prison and she leans against the wall of glass. She looks up and examines the area and notices beams on the ceiling. She grins and then tosses her yoyo towards the beams. The yoyo wraps around the beam, and before Ladybug could react or adjust herself, she is launched up toward the ceiling. She panics because she is going way too fast and nearly hits her head on the ceiling. She then falls down onto the floor, her yoyo falls onto her head and she groans.

She heard Tikki's giggle in her head, "Well…. That actually went better than I hoped! Now let's get outta here!"

Ladybug nods and stops when she happens to look down. Where her tail should be was a pair of red and black spotted legs. Her eyes grow wide because even though Tikki told her this would happen, it was still a shock. She tries to get up but it was very hard, she wobbles around like a newborn child. She uses her yoyo to latch onto beams to support herself as she wobbles to a door.

"How does Adrien do this every day? It is exhausting!" Ladybug mumbles.

Tikki giggles, "Just find a river or body of water! When you get there you can swim again."

Ladybug groans and struggles to just walk to the door. She does it with Tikki's encouragement and her own determination.

About thirty minutes later, she finally gets out of the warehouse. Another thirty minutes later she is in a forest and she collapses, "Forget it! I will CRAWL to water. Walking is way too hard!"

"Oh Marinette," Tikki says in Ladybug's head.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir was vaulting throughout the forest. He was getting tired, and he had not slept well since he became Chat Noir. He was just not having any luck in finding either Tikki's chosen, or more importantly, Marinette.

His kwami was being difficult; he seemed to delight in Adrien's frustration and only demanded cheese. He was also frustratingly cryptic on answering any questions he had. He had no idea what Tikki's chosen even looked like. Plagg only said, he'd know who his new partner was when he saw them.

He rested on top of his extended baton, somehow balancing on it in a sitting position. He sighs.

"Where is she being held?" he muttered and then yawns and is fighting to keep awake. After an hour or so, a very familiar smell floats by his nose. He smells the air and his ears twitch. As he takes another whiff of the air, his eyes shoot open. He looks around frantically.

He knew that smell. He happily thanks Plagg in his mind for night vision when he finally sees a person low on the ground. The figure is crawling on the ground. Based on what he can see, it is a girl about his age in pigtails in a ladybug-inspired skintight suit.

Chat's grin goes impossibly wide. He waves his hands widely to get the lady's attention. She may look different: the legs were new, but he KNEW it was Marinette. Her scent of the sea and the other scent that smelt like a perfume.

"You shrimp-ly smell like my Mari!~" He yells happily to a stunned Ladybug feet away on the ground.

Ladybug is shocked not only is she seen from someone she can barely see who is balancing on a large stick. He apparently can smell her… which was creepy. He also knew her true identity which Tikki told her was supposed to remain a secret. She struggles to get up using a nearby tree for support. She tried to hide her wobbling. Walking and even just standing on land was a production.

"What…. the… Shell!" was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

He jumps down from the baton with a flourish and bows to her.

"Uh… do I know you?!" she said in a panicky voice, she does not really know who this is or even see many details. For all she knows, he is that human who took her.

Before she could even mention anything, she is tackled by this strange man. "I am so glad you are ok! I missed you!~ They miss you too!" He is speaking rapidly since he is so excited.

She makes incoherent noises as she is being hugged by what she is assumed is a cat dressed stranger.

"My name is Chat Noir but you know me when I am not wearing a mask~" he winks at her "Come on and guess!' His green eyes twinkle in mirth.

Her eyes grow wide, " I only know one person …. ADRIEN?!"

Chat laughs and hugs her tightly "Bingo!~"

He nuzzles her like a cat as she is slightly flustered. She than pushes him back by the nose with her finger.

"C-Calm down Kitty… We need to talk …. A lot…"

He nods with agreement, she plops onto the ground again, and she is too tired and confused to focus on standing.

"Your wobbling was so cute my Lady~" Chat Noir cooed to a very embarrassed and annoyed Ladybug. "You're doing so well for someone who only swam her whole life~"

"Shut up you stupid cat! Walking is hard!" She huffs in annoyance; a blush would be very easily seen if she did not have the mask. "If you suddenly become a merman, so help me I will tease you when you can't even move properly!" She crosses her arms in an angry way as Chat grins mischievously.

"A cat underwater… that will be pawsitivily hilarious~" He laughs as Ladybug groans.

"We have work to do!" She huffs. "I am sure your Kwami told you all about why we were chosen. We have a mission!"

He blinks and has the decency to look ashamed, "Well…."

She groans as he helps her up again and she clung to the crook of his arm "Let me guess…. You got too excited and didn't listen…. Or um… your Kwami… I think Tikki said his name is Plagg…. Didn't tell you… she said he was …. Tricky …."

He laughs nervously, "Maybe a little bit of both my lady. "

"You're hopeless."

"You love me anyway."

"I will admit to no such thing!"

He laughs as he helps her walk, "Practice makes perfect, I highly doubt we can fulfill any missions when you are wobbling around like a cute baby faun! "

"A what?"

"A baby deer! A baby woodland animal!"

Ladybug frowns, "A deer? You have weird names for animals."

He laughs as he helps her for a bit trying to get used to her new legs.

"This is my first night on legs… I escaped and just ran on adrenaline and leaning on things."

He suddenly has a serious expression "Who took you? … How did they take you?… are you hurt?… I swear…" he muttered darkly.

She blinks, his mood shifted so quick. "Honestly … I don't know. It was a man with brown hair in a bun and weak facial hair. He wore a lot of purple and had something green and white in his mouth… a stick maybe? I was in a building with a lot of art things. It was large and smelled really strange. He didn't hurt me, I wouldn't let him ! I didn't even let me see me all that much. I wouldn't give him that satisfaction. He tried talking to me all soft and sweet … like you did when you met me.. but… it came off … unnerving? He looked at me strangely sometimes."

He raised his eyebrow, "Strangely?"

"Kinda like sad and wistful sometimes and … then hungry and then looking at me like I was some pretty and priceless pearl." She shudders "It was creepy … no one has ever looked at me like that… and he seemed so much older than me …"

She could feel Chat bristle next to her, he did not look happy. Still, he tried to calm down and give her a wide smile. "Still… I am glad your Kwami came when she did so you could escape! So tell me about this mission you claim we are on?"

She rolls her eyes good naturedly but before she can start there is a beep coming from her earrings.

"Looks like you will change back….."

Ladybug goes pale, "Oh fish sticks… I need to get to water…. "

Chat Noir looks around quickly and sniffs the air trying to smell some body of water before she turns back. He finds a scent and he scoops her up quickly. She makes a squeak in protest but he runs toward where he smelled water. She clutches to him as he runs with more speed than she could even dream of. She does turn back to her mermaid self as soon as they get to a pond. Tikki flies out of the earrings and land on Chat's head as Marinette dives into the pond "Oh thank everything good under the sea~~ that is so much better~" She happily swims around, her tail shimmered in the moonlight. She seemed to gain more energy as she swims around.

Tikki flies in front of Chat's face and introduces herself. "I'm Tikki! Marinette's Kwami! Can I see Plagg please? I am sure he made you buy his precious stinky cheese. Besides he needs a break… plus I need his help explaining things."

He nods. "Plagg, Claws in"

Marinette leaned on the bank of the pond and watches as Chat Noir is engulfed in green light and Adrien and a tiny black cat are standing in his spot. She watches as Tikki happily launches herself at the black cat she assumed was Adrien's kwami, Plagg.

Adrien grins as he sits on the bank, sitting as close as he can to Marinette. She leans on the bank and watches them interact until the two kwamis remember they have things to explain their two chosen.

Tikki is the first to recover. "Well! Marinette knows most of this, but knowing how…. Vague Plagg can be…. "

Plagg had gotten a piece of cheese from Adrien's pocket. "It's more fun to make chosens figure things out, make them suffer for my amusement."

Marinette snorts, "Wow… he's charming "

Adrien groans and rubs his temples in annoyance and Tikki simply sighs.

"Well we might not have the time for your amusement Plagg, Nooroo is in trouble … This is new. He wasn't supposed to awaken, especially for someone who wasn't chosen…. Heck…. WE aren't even supposed to be awake… We are in peace…" She looks at the mermaid and human in front of her. "For the most part."

Adrien tilts his head in confusion, "What do you mean by that? "

Tikki continues sadly "The human race was supposed to forget about the other domains… Well you did, but whoever forced Noorroo to awaken clearly knew what they were doing. It's been thousands of years since we needed to help restore balance."

Marinette looks incredibly guilty, "Is it … my fault? "

Her three companions look at her, shocked.

Marinette splashes her tail in annoyance, not at anyone present but at herself. "I wasn't careful and I got caught .. I broke all the rules from the kingdom!" She moans and slams her head on the bank. "I am an idiot" she said mumbling into her arms. "Rules that must have been there to prevent this all."

Tikki flies to her chosen's face and pets her cheek. "Marinette… this isn't your fault; the rules of your kingdom would not have stopped him at all. I would have awakened and found you …. You ARE my chosen after all. This was no accident."

Plagg, in between mouthfuls of cheese "Ya can't stop fate, kid. You two are not normal, in case you two oblivious beings couldn't tell."

Adrien frowns " I am perfectly normal!"

Marinette nods "I am just a normal mermaid who lives a normal life…." She looks around her "Well… I did until fairly recently."

Plagg would have raised an eyebrow if he had one, "Riiiggghhhttt… Mr. VERY bad luck and Miss. Let me heal everyone with magic'

Marinette pales, "How did you know that?"

Plagg rolls his cat like eyes "Kid… I have been around for thousands of years… I am a God of sorts .. I know things. Just because I like to keep all my chosen guessing doesn't mean I don't know things," He smirks.

Tikki sighs again and turns to Adrien "How much do you know about the domains of the Kwamis, Land and Sea?"

"Nothing about the Kwamis and not much about the sea.. I only know what Merkind thinks of humans and there is like some deep anger about a war that was fought thousands of years ago between Merkind and Humans…. Apparently, a lot of them believe humans ruined things… and it is why they have to hide…. "

Marinette looks guilty but nods, "I don't know much of it myself, but there are stories. Stories about a war with humans and they cheated somehow and we were forced to hide."

Tikki nods "Thousands of years ago, there was a war between the domains of the land and the sea. Personally I think both sides were to blame, both so stubborn and prideful of what they saw as their right. At first us Kwami were not going to interfere but things got bad… so bad… they almost wiped each other out and the domains would be very much out of balance… so us Kwami decided to partner with various humans and merpeople to stop the war and come to some understanding. You see we cannot do much on our own… we need a host. A chosen who will be the best possible match for our abilities."

"That's how I knew about your little bit of magic," Plagg said

cheekily.

"Great. Good. Your powers of bad luck came to me," Adrien said sarcastically.

"Don't whine, you got an amazing scenes of smell… for a human like the best and it also helps when you have cat like reflexes in and out of the suit…." Adrien makes a confused face "Let me guess, you did not notice …. I will take your silence and facial expression as a yes."

Adrien thought about it and realized the little kwami was right … he could distinguish a lot of smells and was quick, agile and always seemed to land on his feet. "Well dang.. "

Tikki coughs "Anyway… before I was interrupted." She looks at Plagg who had a smirk on his face, "You two… were born to do this… literally. We need you and you need us. We need to save Nooroo by finding who has him and his brooch. You see, when the war ended, all the chosen except ours decided keep the jewelry that tether us to this domain. They utterly refused to return them and that led to them being scattered around the world. Now normally this would not be an issue if not an annoyance when we are needed…."

" I am guessing that means someone finds it they normally can't activate it and it just be a normal piece of jewelry." Marinette guessed.

"Exactly, it will activate when it is needed or when it is safe to do so." Tikki flies closer to them "The only ones active are my earrings… Plagg's ring… and Nooroo's moth shaped brooch. I have a feeling… whoever has Nooroo will want to track you two and the others down… we won't know until they use Nooroo's power."

Adrien frowns, "What is it ? "

"Nooroo has the ability to make champions. Nooroo's is the Kwami of change. Nooroo helps their chosen make champions to fight on the behalf of their chosen. However …. I do not know what will happen when his power is used by a non-chosen. His cry for help that woke us up …. Sounded so pained and terrified… It can't be good. "

The two chosen look at each other and then back to the Kwamis. "So… how can we help?" Adrien asked , he had a somewhat excited tone .

"We must find and save Nooroo but while we are at it gather the other Miraculous Items… we are missing a jade green bracelet that resembles a turtle's shell, a fox tail necklace, a peacock pin and a bee hair comb."

"How will we know when we find one?" Marinette asked. "There can be many things that look like that."

"We can sense them even if they are inactive if they are close. We will tell you " Tikki replied matter of factly.

Adrien thinks "We at least need to get Marinette home for a little bit… I know what fear looks like and I rather not face it again… besides Alya and Nino are worried out of their mind… I bet others are as well."

Marinette squeaks and falls into the water.

"MARINETTE?! "

"I am .. o-ok… and I am in soooo much trouble … oh no no." She is starting to panic as Adrien grabs her shoulders

"Calm down… calm down… we will get you home and…"

"They know about you … who else knows?… I am going to die …. Oh I know it"

Adrien and Tikki look at each other and try to calm down the hysterical mermaid. Plagg just watches with mild amusement. Comforting anyone is not his strong point.

"Marinette…. Please … we will figure something out.. You won't die… we will be fine … YOU will be fine. We are luck remember… ?" Tikki said in a calm and soothing voice as she pats Marinette's cheek. Adrien says nothing as he rubs his hands along Marinette's shoulders and nuzzles her head, much like a cat.

"Marinette, I don't think …they would tell… at least what you told me about them… besides… I think they can help you sort this out… they told me they were covering for you as best they can… the best you can do is we go back. Talk to them and see what they say…. Ok? They are your friends right? They wouldn't want to hurt you I think."

Tikki nods in agreement "Yes, I bet they won't say a word until they see you again and I will be there when that happens for support … you won't be alone."

Marinette starts to calm down "Ok …." She says weakly.

"Well! Now that's settled let's keep moving." Plagg said, earning surprised looks. "Yea unless you have cookies on you girlie, you can't turn back into ladybug and get legs. So the only way out of this pond is by Adrien carrying you to the next town.. And if he is walking in broad daylight with a mermaid… people will flip out."

"….. You're right " Adrien groans. "So we have to sleep during the day and move at night … Lovely .. .at least when I am Chat Noir I can see in the dark… he pulls something out of a bag, a large pail of some kind and scoops water into it. Marinette looks at him confused. "Just in case we can't find water we can use this as emergency… wouldn't want your pretty tail to dry out~" he winks at her as she blushes a deep red.

"Plagg, Claws out"

Light envelops Adrien and is replaced by Chat. He then grins at Marinette and scoops her up. She makes a squeaking noise as Tikki hides in Chat's cat ear "We'll find a river and follow it. We are bound to run into a town. Tell me when your tail needs more water ok? He grabs the bucket and gives it to her to hold. "Marinette, my town is a bit away from here… once we get there we will go to the beach we met each other at and then we can pray Alya does not kill me."

Marinette raises an eyebrow as he beings to walk, holding the bucket of water close. "How bad was she to you?"

"Utterly terrifying, I thought she was somehow going to crawl from the water and stab me and eat me. She haunts my nightmares." he said with a chuckle.

"Sometimes I wonder if she is part shark… Totally fine until they smell blood… or a story… or something goes wrong." She said as she looked around.

"She came at me with a spear and eyes full of pure hate and anger. She thought I did something to you … The guy, Nino, he was icy but he kept her somewhat calm? He seems like in any other circumstances he'd be a pretty relaxed guy…"

She smiles "Yea .. he is. He is like a big brother to me and we've known each other since we were little were teeny tiny little guppies! "

He laughs imagining a little mermaid Marinette.

"We will be there in a few days… you were taken pretty far… there are two villages before we get to mine … We will stop at both for goods and maybe get a nice meal… Maybe we can somehow sneak you in town at night or something… we will figure something out my lady~"

Marinette nods as she gets comfy in his arms "Yea… this is your domain, I will trust you with my life" she grins teasingly at him. " What choice do I have? … a little fish is being taken care of by a cat." she rings his bell and he blushes a bit.

"Y-yea… I will definitely take care of you."


	6. Meetings and First Battles

Théo returned bright and early to his warehouse studio. He had in his hands different treats for himself and the mermaid. She had barely eaten, and he worried about her. He tried to tempt her with some different sweets; he had every intention to make her happy and comfortable with him. He also worried because she did not even leave her cave unless it was to grab some food, which she rarely ate.

He unlocks the door to his warehouse and walks in. It is quiet, but it always is. He locks the door behind him, walks to the tank, and stops dead. He nearly drops his box of food on the floor. Not only is a window open, but the lid to the tank his mermaid was in was on the floor.

He was livid. Someone stole HIS mermaid… He got her fair and square, and someone took her. He was going to find whoever did this and make them pay dearly. He will get his mermaid back, his new muse will not be taken from him. His fists ball up and he turns on his heel. He automatically assumed that the Duke had something to do with it. The only people who would know anything about his find were Lady Chloé and Duke Hawkmoth. He knew the lady didn't do it. The girl had others do things for her, and if she wanted the mermaid she wouldn't have told him about her in the first place. Only Duke Hawkmoth had the means and desire to acquire a mermaid.

He angrily stomps his way into his carriage, slamming doors as he went. He drives himself to the Duke's large mansion. He crosses his arms as he finally arrives the mansion. It had taken a few hours to get to the formidable place.

A butler answers the door, as expressionless as ever and leads him to the visitor parlor.

"Presenting Duke Hawkmoth… Duke Hawkmoth …" the butler motions to Théo. "Théo Barbot." The butler bows and disappears into another room.

"Come to consider my offer?"

" No, I want my mermaid back."

If one could see past his mask, it would show his eyebrow was raised up super high.

"Oh?"

"You took her! How else would she disappear this morning! It is not like she can sprout legs and crawl out a window!"

Hawkmoth sips some tea that had been served just before he was introduced. "I do not have her, I would rather just do this cleanly." He raises his eyebrow at him. "I told you that you couldn't hope to keep her and you should have sold her to me. Now she is gone, you can search any of my properties but you won't find her here I assure you. You also cannot have me arrested for nothing, you have no proof."

Théo growls as the Duke was correct.

"Théo… Remember she isn't yours anymore… finders keepers."

"Is that a threat?"

"Of course not, it is a fact. Thank you for the information. I plan to keep her if I find her… and I will… she might have something I want."

"And what would that be?"

"That is on a need-to-know basis, and you do not need to know. Good Day, Monsieur Barbot." He finishes his drink and walks off, much to Théo's agitation.

Théo scowls. "The hunt is on to find her and I will come out on top." he mutters as he returns to his carriage and goes back toward the beach where he found her. She was most likely going to head there. How she WOULD get there was beyond him, but he was sure she'd try to return home.

The Duke watches Théo leave and he puts his finger on his chin. "Interesting…." He said, closing the window and walking to a secluded part of his mansion. A dark room with a large purple stained glass window with a butterfly design. The room was filled with beautiful white butterflies and a sad looking purple butterfly-like Kwami.

The Duke summons his transformations, his Kwami being sucked into the silver moth shaped brooch.

"Let's see if I can set a little trap… We'll see if my theory proves correct."

Nooroo shivers a bit but says nothing, they all knew trying to convince Hawkmoth of anything was a lost cause and it would hurt them. All they could do was hope Tikki or Plagg heard their cry for help and was on the way.

Hawkmoth lets a small white butterfly fly into his open hand and uses some magic to corrupt it. The pure white butterfly is now a deep purple and black.

"Fly my little akuma, find someone to bond with."

The little butterfly flies out the window becoming the eyes and ears of Hawkmoth, looking for someone to corrupt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien was worried; he hated leaving Marinette in her mermaid form alone even if she was with Tikki. He yawns, he was still incredibly tired. He and Marinette's schedules were out of tune due to their nightly travels. As he walks into the town he stops dead and looks into the window display. It was a beautiful outfit. A long flowing skirt, a corset, and a long flowing billowing top. He grins; he suddenly remembered a conversation between him and Marinette.

_Adrien handed Marinette a piece of bread, their food supplies were running low._

_"W-We need to soon…. stop … stop soon…Need more food…" she said quietly … "Tikki needs cookies…." She sighed softly as Tikki floated on the water._

_"The town is close…. We can make it in half an hour I think? Maybe we can get real food! Like at a nice inn or restaurant."_

_Marinette raises her eyebrow. "YOU can… I can't." She raises her tail from under the river water and shows it to him._

_"I have a plan! We will get you a disguise! We can make you look human!"_

_"A d-disguise?"_

_He nods. "Yea we can dress you like a human girl, and when I carry you, we can say you are injured or something … maybe they might not even ask!"_

_Marinette looks at him skeptically. "You… you … I am not…. S-sure about this"_

_Adrien winks, "You never know until you try it!"_

Adrien goes into the store and picks some items. He did guess on her size but she was quite small so he just chose some of the smaller items that still had plenty of material for her to play with. If all else fails, he could return it and buy a different size.

Plagg groans from inside a pocket. "Cheeseee…." he chanted. "Give meeeee cheeeeesssseee!"

Adrien makes a face. "Calm down, you'll get your precious cheese soon."

Plagg smirks, "I want it now, or else…. Chheeesseee."

Adrien sighs, he didn't want to see what "or else" was, so he buys Marinette's disguise and goes on the hunt for Cheese for the cheese glutton.

After half an hour, Plagg is not happy. "This place has no taste… no Camembert… ANYWHERE… I am going to give this whole town bad luck when we leave. How dare they deny me my precious Camembert?"

"At least they had some cheese?" Adrien tried to reassure him, making sure Tikki's cookies were safe in a bag.

Plagg only glares from his pocket munching sub quality cheese. "You owe me some good cheese, kid"

Adrien sighs, "You'll never let me forget it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien had been gone for a long time. She was worried. Then again, she was worried when Adrien or Chat was not near her. She has been distrustful of humans since she was kidnapped. She eyed the entrance of the village like a hawk, hiding underwater when she saw the first sight of a human.

What was this surprise that Adrien was going on about? He went full on smirking mode with her and that worried her.

"What is that boy planning?"

She bites her lip and tries to think positive. Oh how she wished Alya were there to calm her down. Tikki looks at her trying to comfort her. "It is ok Marinette! He isn't just getting that surprise you know. He is also getting food for us and you two."

Marinette nods and then Tikki makes an excited noise and Adrien appears with many packages in his hands and a happy Plagg snacking on his beloved camembert cheese.

Marinette sighs in relief as she follows Adrien into a safe area free from prying eyes. He helps her sit on the bank of the river and looks so excited as he hands her quite a few bags and she raises her eyebrow.

"Adrien … w-what is …. this?" She then opens the first bag and out comes a circular bag with an embroidered M inside a flower and some other little flowers and a little ladybug. It was a huge bag, enough to fit two little kwamis and their food.

She traces the embroidery with her fingers with awe. 'This… beautiful…." she whispers. He smiles widely, "Ya know there is more~~"

She looks at him, her eyes blown wide. "W-what?" He sticks another bag into her hands and she starts pulling things out. All of these were beautiful but simple human girl clothes. They seemed well made and she was in awe. "What is … this all … all this?"

"Your human disguise!"

"My … disguise?" she is now very confused.

"Yeah! Remember when I told you about my idea to let you see the towns! And we won't have to travel at night anymore." He picks up the pretty pink skirt that seemed extra-long and billowy "see ! This is super long! It will cover your tail when I carry you!" He then lifts her up and helps her into the skirt, and to prove his point he picks her up bridal style.

Marinette looks down and is surprised "Wow…. Right You is … I mean you are r-right… I can't believe t-t-t-this worked."

Adrien grins. "I know a thing or two about human fashion, Princess." He then helps her into the white blouse and the black over-vest. He looks her over and grins. "There! Now I can carry you around like normal and just say you got into an accident long ago and cannot walk anymore! We can stay at an inn and be comfortable and sleep like normal!"

He looked so excited and happy and she happily retuned it.

He scoops her up and she squeaks as he nuzzles her. "Let's go get some REAL food.. We can even sleep in tonight."

She giggles. "So ,….h-humans c-can eat … fake food? "

He grins at her, " Something like that."

Hours later, Marinette would be in her first human restaurant. It was a nice little place to her. Adrien ate like he hadn't eaten in months. He looked so happy.

"What! My cooking is nowhere as good as this and I will enjoy it, Princess!"

She giggled. "S-silly! The food i-isn't g-going to w-walk away!"

She on the other hand savored all the new tastes that assaulted her mouth. It was so good. Meats, breads and strange liquids Adrien called wine and juice. It was all fascinating and delicious. There was nothing quite like this where she was from and she would sorely miss it when she returned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord Kim was leaving to see his beloved Lady Chloé.. His best friend, Max was helping pack up all the fragile gifts and a larger servant named Ivan was loading some of the heavier trunks into the carriage.

Kim was bored, and as he sat in the carriage he looked around and decided to mess with the gentle giant.

He teased and taunted him about his inability to even speak to his dear Mylène, a local girl whose father was a street performer and a jack-of-all-trades.

Ivan usually took these taunting pretty well. He usually just gets annoyed and makes a small grunting noise and then promptly ignores him. Today however, he didn't handle it well at all and ends up storming out, clutching a piece of paper Kim threw at him.

"What's HIS problem?" Kim says, leaning out of the carriage window.

Max rolls his eyes. " I believe you took it too far."

"Eh, he needs to stop being so sensitive." He said nonchalantly.

Unknown to all, the group was being watched.

"Poor Man, so full of negative emotions… just what I need… He will be the perfect way to bring out the new chosens…" He grins wickedly "Go my little akuma, fuse with him and evilize him."

The little Akuma flies to him and goes into the paper in his balled fist. A mask appears over his face and his face is contorted in pure anger. A red shadow appears on his face and a purple butterfly mask outline over his face.

"Stone Heart… I am Hawkmoth, I can give you the power to seek revenge on those who have wronged you."

"Ok Hawkmoth." He replied with a small smirk as the Akuma's purple and black aura spread around him. He turns into a large rock monster that began raging throughout the city.

"KIM!" the monster roars out. "KIM!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien jerks awake, startled when he hears the loud booming noises outside the inn room. Plagg, who was on Adrien's chest, went flying into a dresser.

"KID! What the?!" He than hears a crashing noise and than a loud roar.

"… I am gonna need a lot of cheese."

Marinette is panicky as she peeks out of the tub. "Adrien! What's going on!" she said as looks around with fear in her eyes. "Is this NORMAL?!"

The ground begins to shake. "NOPE."

He then runs to the window and him, Plagg and Tikki look out. They see a giant rock monster tearing through the city.

"Looks like Nooroo's power is active now… It is time for you two to act."

They look at each other and nod.

"PlAGG! CLAWS OUT"

"TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their first battle was sloppy. No one could deny that. Ladybug was still rather wobbly at the start, and Chat Noir seemed to be more focused on Ladybug than Stoneheart. Eventually they find the akumatised item and with one well-timed Cataclysm and Lucky Charm later, they end up tearing up the paper releasing the Akuma.

Ladybug blinks as she watches the butterfly fly off.

Tikki screams in her head. "Quick! Capture the Akuma! Just throw your yoyo at it before it gets away!"

Ladybug nods. "Y-yea!" she throws the yoyo up. "No more little evildoing for you, little Akuma!" She then captures the little butterfly. She does some motions and the yoyo glows a bit and it opens up and a now pure white butterfly is revealed.

"Bye Bye, Little Butterfly…" Ladybug gently says as the now cleansed white butterfly flies away from her yoyo. She watched it with a small smile as Chat walks behind her and grins.

"Good Job, Pound it!" He lifts his fist and Marinette smiles. She and Nino did it a lot and she mimics the gesture. "Good Job!"

Soon after that, a crowd starts to form around them and Ladybug begins to feel a bit claustrophobic. She is now keenly aware that she is shaking, not out of fear, but because she is still a bit clumsy on her human legs. She is still very used to being carried around. Chat Noir seems to notice this and grabs her hand. He hoists himself and his lady up and out of the view of prying eyes using his baton.

"You ok?" he said, as he heard some beeps from his ring and her earrings.

She nods and sighs, "That was intense."

"Yea but we got through it, Bugaboo."

She twitches. "What in the name of the ocean is up with you and weird nicknames?"

He grins. "I find them punny, My Lady."

She groans and rolls her eyes as her last warning beep is heard. In one minute she will transform back.

Chat holds onto her and lets them both down. As soon as their feet hit the floor her transformation is dropped and in a flash of pink light and sparkles Ladybug disappears and in her place Marinette appears. The only reason she doesn't drop like a stone is because Chat is holding her up.

Chat drops his transformation and now Adrien is in his place.

Plagg flies out. "Cheeeesssseee~~~"

"It's in Mari's purse." he said rolling his eyes as the cheese glutton dives in after Tikki into Marinette's leather bag.

Unknown to them a second black butterfly is watching them.

Hawkmoth grins, he was right, the two most powerful miraculouses had been activated. His trap had been successful. Now all he had to do was make an Akuma and take it from them. He cannot see the details of the black cat and ladybug but he can follow them and send another akuma when he powered up again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After confirming that they were heading the right direction, Adrien, Marinette and the Kwamis slip out of the town. They had made sure to restock on all their supplies and were prepared for any emergency.

"It shouldn't take more than a few more days, Princess…"

She nods and rests her head on his chest. "We should try and hurry, although I am not gonna lie… I am not looking forward to facing Alya… " She shudders at the thought.

"I'd be there with ya if I could …. I will be there… emotionally."

She snorts at that, and laughs and he smiles at her reaction.

"You, Kid, are a dork " Plagg decided. "I am gonna hang out with Tikki so your dorkiness doesn't rub off on me." He then leaves Adrien's pocket and goes into Marinette's purse.

Marinette giggles at Plagg and his fleeing to Tikki.

"Maybe hanging out with her will make you sweeter!" Adrien said in a playful tone as Plagg rolls his eyes.


	7. Meanwhile, Under The Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The DJWifi Chapter  
> Dat is all XD

Nino groans and rubs his temple; this whole situation was taxing on his nerves. He liked to think he was the relaxed one, the one who went with the flow. However this particular situation was testing him, and he was the one who had to explain to his crazy girlfriend what had happened. She was going to be absolutely livid. 

Nino swims to Alya’s house where he sees Alya pacing, her tail swishing her purple tail in agitation. He takes a deep breath and swims up to the frustrated mermaid.

“Well?!” she shrieks. “Any news?!”

Nino looks at her for a few seconds and slowly said, “Yes… but… you must promise not to explode. Follow me… Fish have ears.”

Her eyes narrow but she follows, “Well move, you overgrown sea slug.” 

He chooses to ignore her as not provoke her further. 

They find a secluded cave and Nino sighs.

“The human thinks she was captured by someone the night she went missing.” 

Alya goes pale. “ ….N-No…”

Nino looks sad. “ Babe… Angel Fish…. He told me he was tracking her… I think he has some lead or something. All we can do now is wait and stall for time.” 

Alya pounds her tail on a small rock formation angrily and starts swearing. “I hate being useless! I hate being unable to do a thing to help her! She is just a sitting tuna and she just got scooped up by a human’s net. What in the deep blue sea was she even THINKING?… She didn’t even tell me about it Nino! She is my best friend… we tell each other everything …”

“Would you have been calm if she had told you? I am not gonna lie, I would have lost my shrimp if she told me she was … associating herself with a human… and a fisherman, nonetheless.” 

Alya sighs as her shoulders sink, “You… you are right .. I would have … exploded on her. “ 

“We both would have. We love her like a sister … We don’t want her to get hurt.” 

“She probably is right now, Nino!” 

“We don’t know that… but we can’t do anything right now… but stall for time and give Adrien enough time to find her and bring her home.”

“Do you trust him?” 

Nino sighs. “Honestly… I kinda do…. Do I trust him completely? No, I do not … but … somehow … I do not feel like he means her harm, and he wants her safe back here…. He seems… to care about her a lot.”

Alya raises her eyebrow. “You’re … krilling me .. right?” 

Nino shakes his head. “ No… I don’t think so… He had the look… That look a guy has when he cares about someone …” 

Alya groans. “No no noooooo… this is bad. Marinette has to feel the same… She is not subtle about her affections….” she curses again. “That girl is an open book… it sounds like this guy is the same.”

Nino hugs Alya, resting his head on hers. “We will fix this… Somehow … when she comes back, we’ll talk about it and just … figure this out…”

Alya pulls back and gives a shaky grin. “That little guppy owes me big time. Good thing I am a master of diversion and distraction.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In order to maintain some level of normalcy and keep certain people from learning Marinette was missing, they went on more exploration trips. When people asked where Marinette was, they either claimed she swam ahead or she was pearl hunting for Alya. It was exhausting, especially for Nino but they would bear it for Marinette. Most of the merpeople seemed to buy this, the only two that questioned them were Marinette’s parents Tom and Sabine. They were suspicious of how it seemed their only daughter was avoiding them. They were suspicious, but couldn’t get ahold of Alya or Nino to really question them about her. 

Alya drags Nino to a new sunken ship. It sunk a few days ago and has been unexplored. The area was rather murky and rocky. It was obvious why the ship sunk. There was a huge gash on the side where the rocks clearly scraped it roughly. She examines the ship closely. It was clearly a ship made for someone wealthy, maybe even royal. Even it is waterlogged and damaged state, it was lovely. 

The two then explore the ship. They were going to take their sweet time; there was no rush. It was easier to escape prying eyes this way. 

Nino lets go of Alya’s hand and looks at her “Well, at least there are no sharks right now. I guess the humans were off the ship when it sunk.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alya is in a room with peeling orange wallpaper. Her eyes catch onto a wooden octagonal box on the floor. It had some weird symbols on it, and unlike the rest of the items in the room; it didn’t look waterlogged or warped. It was very strange. She picks up the box and examines it closely and it plops open. Inside it was a necklace with a strange looking tail. She had never seen a tail like that before. It was a deep orange with a white tip. She was drawn to it and puts it on and admires herself in a cracked mirror. She then screams when a bright white light shines from it.

Nino is exploring the ship looking for more human instruments. They fascinated him immensely, even if he would never dare admit it to anyone. He liked how they sounded and how they looked. He had to give it to the humans, they may be mostly barbaric but they had talent in making amazing looking instruments. He just wished most of them weren’t so darn big so he could keep more of them and keep them hidden.

Alya’s scream brought him out of his musings. He instantly swam off toward her scream. His mind was racing with worry. He already lost Marinette; he would never recover if he lost Alya as well. He knew it, they shouldn’t have come here. How did he let Alya drag him to this sunken ship? He worries more when her screaming abruptly stops and he fears the worst. He swims through the abandoned hallways of the ship. He rapidly opened any and all doors trying to find her. He eventually finds the room Alya is residing in and forcibly opens the door. 

“Wow… any harder and you would have broken the door!~” said a mischievous sounding voice that defiantly did not sound like Alya. He looks up and sees a shocked Alya and furry orange fluffy thing next to her head.

“What … the… SHELL is going on!?”

The orange blob just laughs. “Ooh I am going to have so much fun with you two~” Her purple eyes twinkled with amusement and her black tipped ears twitched.

“I am the Kwami of the Fox Miraculous ... The name’s Trixx!” 

Alya blinks “What in the deep blue sea is a kwami and what … is a fox?” 

Nino just looks shell shocked as he stares at Trixx. She just giggles at them as she floats around “We are gonna be together for a while~ better get used to me, merboy~”

Alya huffs as Nino snaps back to attention. 

“Well get to explaining!” Alya demands. “I want to know what is going on! I have had enough secrets to last me a LONG time!” 

Trixx rolls her eyes, “Geez, you’re pushy.” 

Nino mutters under his breath, “You have no idea.” 

Alya glares at Nino. “I HEARD that Nino.” And he gulps in response. 

“Alright! Alright! I will give you a small rundown on what is going on. I am a kwami. Think of me as a little god who can control something. I am the Kwami of Illusions, mischief and the dead. Not to be confused with Chaos… that is Plagg’s department.”

She turns to Alya, “You, my dear, are my chosen! When you put the necklace on you activated it and woke me up.” She smirks. “Thanks for that, by the way! I was looking forward to escaping for a bit of fun!~” 

She floats around Alya examining her, “Although… I must admit, I usually get human chosen, not mer folks. This is actually new for once!” She grins at Alya and Nino’s shocked faces. 

She then laughs. “ If this is shocking now… Wait until I show you all we can do together Alya, I just hope I don’t break you too bad~~” she finished in a taunting voice “This is gonna be fun~~”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trixx was right. She broke them. She transformed Alya into the new fox hero, Volpina. Alya went through a total change. Her hair was brought into a ponytail and her orange tips now faded into white. She grew fox ears and her once purple tail became orange and white and seemed to extend much higher than before. Her mask was orange and white and covered her top half of her face, even covering her beauty mark over her eye. A flute appeared at the end of her transformation onto her back.

Trixx giggled in Alya’s head, as she was stunned by her change, and spoke to her in her head. 

“Use the flute to make illusions~ Just put your mouth on it and you will know what to do! Just think of what kind of illusion you want and BAM! What you want will appear!” 

Alya nods, although Nino had NO idea what she was nodding. She brings the flute to her lips and plays a tune neither one recognized and in a puff of smoke an illusion of Marinette appears in the middle of them and Nino freaks out.

“WHAT THE !” he yelps and even Alya is taken aback. It looked just like Marinette on the last day she saw her.

Nino goes to touch her shoulder and his hand goes through the not real Marinette.

“I made… an illusion… of Marinette….” She said in a awed voice.

“Holy Shrimp.” 

“Holy Shrimp is right…” Alya looks at the flute. “Suddenly, us covering for Marinette has gotten a lot easier.” She released the transformation and Trixx flew out of the necklace. Alya returned to normal.

Trixx just grins, already anxiously awaiting her to find out her other abilities. 

“Well ~ At least you will gain some experience in being a diversion for others! It will help for your mission~” 

“Mission?! What mission!?” They both shouted in unison.

“Honestly… I don’t know! Tikki or Plagg would though! I mean, I wouldn’t have awoken if there was not a need to. Anyway, if we find at least one, we can find the other. They are the strongest of us Kwami and they probably know what is happening.”

“I thought you were like a mini God or something.” Alya said in a sarcastic tone. 

“I’ve been asleep for centuries; excuse me for not knowing what is going on.” Trixx sassed back.

Nino sighed, a headache coming on already. “Maybe we should… uh, look for this Tikki and Plagg? Maybe they can help Adrien find Marinette… he needs all the help he can get.”

Trixx raises an eyebrow, “Who are Adrien and Marinette?”

“Marinette is my best friend and maid… and Adrien is a human that somehow messed with her brain, and she got captured by someone else!” she growled. She was still mad at him and would remain so until Marinette was returned home safe and sound.  
“Interesting…” Trixx said. “Last time I was awake, most mermaids and humans hated each other’s guts. They wanted nothing more than to wipe each other out. Those were some messy times, wouldn’t recommend it.”

Nino raises an eyebrow and tries to not snort and Alya rolls her eyes. “They definitely don’t want to do that.” 

Trixx laughs, clearly understanding the two’s implications. “Anyway! Let’s see if I can sense any of them nearby. Us kwami can sense if we are nearby or were there before. Our magic is pretty powerful and can linger for days after we left.”

They nod, and after hiding Trixx in a bag they found in the room, they go search the ocean. Trixx could not find either trace. 

“This is harder than I thought. Usually one of the halves is represented by a human and a merperson… I don’t sense either… something is off. … Ok time to go on land!” 

“You’re joking” Nino said flatly. “I don’t think you are aware of this … but fins don’t work on land.” he said sarcastically. 

“You can’t, but Alya can. With my power, she can go on land for a bit.” 

Alya ponders this information as Nino becomes more and more nervous.

“Nino… let’s go visit a certain … person.” 

“Alya…” Nino starts worriedly.

“Nino! We can kinda help now! You can’t chicken out on me now.” 

“What if I lose you like we lost Marinette!” he yells and Alya’s eyes soften. “I know you like adventure and stuff but…. You will be out of your element and alone… If you get captured too…”

“I won’t, I am sure of it! My illusions can distract and stuff! Besides right now, I won’t go far! It’ll be fine!” She grabs his hands and smiles. “I won’t go where you can’t see me ok? At least not for now.” 

He sighs having no choice but to trust her “Fine.”

She grabs his hand and they swim off toward Adrien’s house. When they almost arrive, Alya transforms again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He was here.” Trixx said as soon as Alya could wobbily stand. These legs would take a lot of adjusting.

“Who was here? Adrien? Cause this IS his house.” 

“No… Plagg was here!” 

“Wait what?! That kwami of chaos you were talkin’ about?” 

“Yup” Trixx said, popping the p “ he was here … I sense his magic… and the reek of his favorite cheese…” 

“Cheese? What’s a cheese?”

Trixx sighs in Volpina’s mind, sounding a bit annoyed at her chosen’s ignorance. “Nevermind… anyway looks like Plagg WAS here … but not for long… He left in a hurry it seems …”

“Maybe he is helping Adrien find Marinette?” she asked hopefully. 

“Maybe… If Plagg’s chosen IS Adrien … and Adrien is a human, he is better to find Marinette since he doesn’t need to spend extra energy to keep him human like I do.”

“How do I keep your energy up then?”

“My favorite food! Cherries!”

“Cherries?....” 

“Yea… red fruit of the land… sweet and oh so good. “ 

Volpina flops on the sand. Standing on two legs and attempting to stay upright was tiring. 

Volpina turns when she hears Nino “You ok?! You just kinda plopped down!” he sounded worried and nervous.

“Yea… looks like Plagg was here already!”

“Really?”

“Yea! Trixx sensed him and according to her, he wasn’t here long and spent time at Adrien’s.”

“I wonder… if that was his “lead” he spoke of? ‘ Nino said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. 

“I hope so…” she crawls back to the ocean. “Being a temporary human is tiring…. I can’t imagine being a permanent one.” 

Nino nods as he helps Alya in and she releases her transformation. Trixx stretches, “I am gonna raid the human house, I am starving!” The fox kwami flees into Adrien’s house. 

Alya grins. “She’s charming isn’t she?” 

Nino nods. “Yea” he gives a small laugh. “Is it odd… I find her kinda… calming? Like if she is here things will end up fine? Like we have another force on our side.”

Alya nods, “Yea… at least we can be of use…” 

“You can.” 

“No you too Nino, You can help me by diverting attention from us.” She then winks. “Besides, ONE of us needs to be the sane one.” She gives him a hug and he blushes a bit. 

“I can try.” he mumbled.

“You already do, every single day” She smiled softy as she ruffles his really short hair.


	8. Almost There

Marinette would like to say that the journey home was nice and easy. That it was uneventful.

She’d like to say that; but she’d be a liar, and she hated liars. 

Stoneheart was only the beginning. As they left two more of these strange humans-turned-into-monsters appeared. 

One was a man named Mr. Mime. He was a man whose understudy stole his role using conniving methods. The man was understandably angry and betrayed. The battle was rather frustrating for the two as Mime was very fond of invisible walls which hurt Ladybug more than Chat. 

The other was a man named Mr. Pigeon. He was a man whose only friends were the Pigeons, and law enforcement kept trying to hurt them and fine him. They said that the birds were a nuisance and he was only encouraging them and it was against the law. He was a rather interesting battle and he, in general, was strange. It was only a troublesome battle because as it turned out, Chat was allergic to feathers and he kept sneezing at the worst possible times giving away their positions all the time. 

As they travelled they kept hearing unnerving sounds. As if something was following them. Marinette rarely heard it but Adrien could hear it all the time. He slept less as he tried to hurry home. Someone or something was following them. Despite Plagg’s complaining, he was Chat Noir more often than he was Adrien due to this. He had a bad feeling that whoever took Marinette the first time had tracked them somehow. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Théo was tired. He had been tailing what he hoped was his mermaid and her captor. He at first headed back to the beach where his mermaid was first found. He followed the river, and at any disturbance he’d look in, not caring if he got wet. He of course found nothing, and he was frustrated. He went into town and heard the people’s mumblings of the giant stone monster and the two young heroes that went by Ladybug and Chat Noir. How after making the monster disappear, they too disappeared as quickly as they came. there was also talk of a girl who couldn’t walk and had to be carried around and how they hoped she was ok. This caught his attention more than the stone monster. 

He went to the local inn keeper and he gushed about the sweet girl who had to be carried around by a very sweet man with green eyes. The description of the girl, dark hair with blue eyes was very vague but gave him hope. He asked around for them and learned they were heading toward the beach he suspected.

He quickly leaves the town and heads for them and only managed to catch up with one couple. He had been delayed by a strangely dressed pigeon man who had kept him hostage in a cage of what seemed to be pigeons. It was bizarre to say the least. 

He only caught the back of them when he saw them. The man was dressed in black and seemed to have something in his wild blonde hair, cat ears perhaps. He could not really tell as the man’s back was facing him. The woman he was carrying had her face in his neck and most of his body shielded her. What he did see though was something that looked like a fin for a brief second before the skirt could cover it. Before he could even think to move, the black dressed man bolted up and into the trees.

“It’s her… it HAS to be her,” he mutters darkly under his breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien sighs in relief when he sees the familiar town. He can see the roof of Chloe’s mansion; he had never been happier to see the place. 

Marinette smiles, “We’re…. a-almost … home” and he nods happily. She tightens her grip on his neck.

“We have to be as quiet as possible, Marinette…. I am not exactly … a fan favorite of most people…. And I’d rather avoid certain people. I kinda just… disappeared without telling anyone … We have been gone for a few days after all.” 

Marinette nods as he leads her to a space just outside the view of people coming in and out of the town. “We will wait a bit for when there aren’t as many people…. This is prime shopping time “ 

She giggles at this, “Oh?”

Adrien shivers. “A certain someone decides that I become her pack mule when she shops. I never look forward to it… but you do learn stuff about the town.”

Marinette smiles as Adrien sets her down onto the grass, hidden from being spotted. 

“Let’s just wait for a bit and we can sneak to the beach.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max and Sabrina are helping prepare Lord Kim for what is sure to be either the happiest day of his life…. Or his biggest mistake. 

Personally, Max thought he had a good chance. He researched courting rituals of couples in the town both young and old and found similar patterns. One loved the other and the man always got the biggest and most expensive item to court favor. Kim was wealthy and he could afford to lavish the girl with many nice things. That would surely make her say yes. 

Sabrina, on the other hand, didn’t think this was a good idea. Max was right of course and Kim was wealthy and not too bad on the eyes. He might be a good match for her mistress IF she wasn’t so hung up on the even more handsome but unlucky Adrien. Her mistress was obsessed with the boy… to an almost unnatural degree. Her obsession would blind her to any other better options.

“Stop fidgeting, my Lord” Sabrina said with an icy tone. “You are still rather rough from your travels here.” 

She then helps finish him and makes final adjustments. “There… you are ready.” 

Kim takes a breath, “This is the day. It will be great.”

It wasn’t great at all. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloé was a bit miffed. Sabrina was missing again and she was annoyed. 

“Where is that girl? Why do I have to do all this myself?” She whines to herself, holding onto her parasol. She than noticed the back of a very familiar mop of sunshine blonde hair. 

Chloé skips over to Adrien; at first not seeing Marinette in his arms. 

“Adriikkiinnss~~~ You’re backkkk~~” she cheered.

She failed to notice him stiffening and him not turning around. 

“This is bad,” Adrien thought as he heard the familiar voice. He looks down at a very unimpressed Marinette. His plan of sneaking home during the quiet hours had officially failed Just his rotten luck. 

“Uh.. H-Hi Chloé,” he stammered, not turning around as if that would will her away. He was so close to bringing Mari home, he could smell the salty air already. 

“Adriiiikkiinnnss~~ where were you?~ I missed you ~” she said as she tried to grab and cling to his arm. As she tries to yank it, she notices he is holding something and stares straight into the face of Marinette, who was trying really hard to put on her sweetest, “No I don’t hate you and wish to drown you” face. 

A slew of emotions went through Chloé’s face at that very moment. Shock, recognition, anger, and disbelief were all written on her face for a split second. 

The only thing on her mind was, “Why was SHE back?” 

She schooled her face back to her usual expression “Oh Adrikins~ Who is your new friend?” she said in a voice as sweet as honey. “I don’t think she is from here~”

“Errr….”

“My name is Marinette,” she said in an equally sweet voice. Marinette could feel the venom in the air; the only consolation was she wasn’t shrieking like a banshee anymore. 

“Eh eh he… um … Yea… friend… she got hurt and uh… we were gonna take her on a boat ride to her home’s healer…”

“Yes… I am not from here and I do not really trust the doctors here.” She said smoothly. It wasn’t like she was lying really. She was not from the land nor did she trust human doctors in general.

“I see…. Well Adrikins~” she said batting her long eyelashes at him “I will see you later~ Tell me before you go off to wherever …she..” she looks at Marinette with a negatively critical eye “is from ~ I will see you off.” She tries to give him a kiss but he avoids it, “Yea! Will do... GOTTA GO BYE!” He turns and bolts so fast that Marinette squeaks and clings to him for dear life. 

As soon as he is gone, she lets out her fury and stamps the floor like the angry spoiled princess she thinks she is. She had to look for that idiot treasure hunter and find out why the little mermaid was now back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien finally stops running when he reaches the gate that separates the town and the beach. They still had a way to go but at least they were not going to get stopped or seen as much. 

“That… was … too close” he said in between breaths sliding down into a sitting position with her on his lap. 

“Yea… she is… even louder up close… How … how are you not deaf?” She asked with a small grin. 

He lets out a chuckle, “Good question.”

“Ow… ow… my ears… Princess here is right. How your ears can not be ringing?” said a grumpy voice from Adrien’s pant pocket. 

“My poor, poor sensitive ears.” Plagg whined as his stubby little arms tried to massage them. “They are going through some serious trauma right now… I demand cheese to help soothe my pain.”

Adrien rolls his eyes as Marinette giggles. She opens her bag and Tikki hands her the piece of stinky cheese wrapped in some kind of white paper. 

“Hello my darling~ ease my pain~” Plagg cooed as he was given the cheese. 

Marinette rolls her eyes good-naturedly at Plagg and his cheese related antics when Tikki speaks “Hey Plagg… Did you sense anything ….” 

Plagg swallows a piece of cheese and looks at her, “Pollen?”

Adrien tilts his head, “You allergic to pollen or something? It’s not Spring!” He asked Tikki.

“No kid, …Jeez you’re bright, aren’t ya? Pollen, as in the Bee Kwami,” Plagg said in a sassy voice 

Tikki sighs, “ So you felt her too? I sensed her when that loud girl was up close. I faintly sensed Pollen, she seems to be inactive right now.”

Adrien thinks “So you think Chloé has whatever item this Pollen is sleeping in?”

“Pollen resides in a bee shaped hair comb. Adrien, have you seen anything like that on her?” Tikki asks sweetly.  
Adrien closes his eyes and thinks and instantly remembers the day he found out Marinette was possibly captured. Chloé had shown off a new hair comb she received that she claimed was super rare with a bee on it. His eyes shot open, “Yes! She just got a Bee shaped hair comb from her dad! At first, I thought it was rather plain and that isn’t her style but she gushed on how rare it was and I kinda… tuned her out?” He said, embarrassed.

“I-it’s ok Adrien” Marinette said rubbing his shoulder soothingly. 

“Yeah Kid, I’d tune her out too!”

“Plagg!”

“What! It’s true and none of you can tell me you wouldn’t either.”

No one tried to fight him on that. 

“Anyway…” Marinette began. “We need to get it off her… somehow…”

“Let’s get you home first and regroup.”

Tikki nods in agreement, “Yes, let you regain your strength Marinette.” 

“I am fine! What if something bad happens?!”

Tikki sits on Marinette’s shoulder and nuzzles her cheek “It will be fine.”

Adrien nods “Yeah, I mean it isn’t like our miraculous will be stolen or something. Actually I bet there will be no more Akumas for a bit either.”

As soon as he finishes that statement, screams fill the air from the villiage

“Good going kid, you just jinxed us” 

“It is YOUR luck that did this!” Adrien glares at Plagg.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloé’s foul mood didn’t improve.

Not even shopping helped make her happy and her foul mood only increased when she saw Lord Kim walk to her with a love sick look on his face.

When he confessed his intentions to her, she ripped his heart out and stomped on it like a bug. She hated the gifts he gave, and overall hated him. She insulted everything from his looks to his social standing and didn’t even have the decency to do it in private. No, she did this in front of all who just happened to be nearby. 

Max’s eyes grew wide in horror as he watched, while Sabrina watched knowing all too well this might happen. Kim retreated out of the town, wishing to be left alone to wallow in his shame. 

A purple butterfly soon made its way to the most expensive gift he tried to give Chloé, a gem encrusted brooch. His head snapped up, his eyes glazed when he heard Hawkmoth’s voice. 

“Dark Cupid, I am Hawkmoth and I can give you the power to shoot your arrows, pierce love and impale friendships. All I ask is for a small favor in return…”

Dark Cupid grins wickedly, “No love affair or friendship will escape my fury! No one will love again!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ladybug was doing her best to avoid not only Dark Cupid but a now brainwashed Chat Noir. He had taken an arrow meant for her and now he was after her. When he was hit, his lips became black. His normally kind eyes became hard and cold. He was vicious and his attacks were fast and quick. 

“Well, well ~ look at what we have here~” he said in a cold voice “A little bug I can squash.”

She avoided his blows, “I don’t want to fight you Chat Noir!” 

He rolls his eyes “Ugh, don’t start with that.” He expands his baton and charges with his baton to attack her. 

Dark Cupid laughs cruelly as he continues to infect the town with hatred as Ladybug and Chat Noir. He would let Chat Noir tire out Ladybug and then take their Miraculouses when they are weak. Dark Cupid grins wickedly as he watched friends and lovers alike turned on each other in an almost comedic fashion. 

Their battle goes on for way longer than Ladybug would have liked. She uses her lucky charm and is given a large spotted sticky heart-shaped lollipop. She is able to toss it at Dark Cupid and managed to get his hands all sticky and unusable. However as she was trying to take care of Dark Cupid, she is taken off guard and knocked down by Dark Chat and he pins her to the ground. 

Ladybug tries to escape his hold as Dark Cupid grins, “Just take her earrings and get rid of the girl you hate!” 

Chat Noir raises his fist in the air and the start of a Cataclysm begins to form.

“Think … think!” she mutters to herself. Her mind goes through any possible way to escape and she suddenly remembers a conversation she and Alya were younger and she found her answer. 

“Mari~~neetttee~~” screamed a ten year old Alya waving a deeply waterlogged hardcover book.  
Ten year old Marinette turns to her friend and sees the book, “Alyyaa….”

“Girl~ don’t worry! It was dropped in the ocean! I didn’t go into any wrecks this time!”

“But that’s even worse!”

“Don’t be a party pooper! It is a book of stories that you and Rose would love! It’s human fairy tales! Although some of it is weird. A lot of it ends where true love’s kiss breaks the spell. How does swapping saliva help break spells?” 

As if being summoned, a small blonde mermaid with bright blue eyes popped up. “True love conquers all~” 

She rightly scares the two and she giggles “I love stories like that~ True Love’s kiss sounds so romantic” 

“ …. How did you even DO that” Alya shocked as she giggles.

“True Love’s Kiss…” she mutters.

“What?” Chat Noir growls and Ladybug grins. 

“True Love’s Kiss” she said as she grabs his face and yanks him down. She uses all her force to smash her lips into his and just kisses him as hard as she can. 

“Please… Please let this work” 

Chat Noir is shocked at first and freezes. He then closes his eyes and leans into the kiss, the black lips disappear off of him. 

She opens her eyes and detaches her lips from his with a deep blush on her face. Her earrings beep for the first time. 

Chat Noir blinks and shakes his head, “Huh? Where am I?” 

Ladybug pushes herself from under him and smiles, “Good to see you back Kitty, let’s finish off this Akuma quickly.” Another loud beep is heard “Like, really quickly… I think his item is a that brooch he has on.” 

Chat Noir nods and runs toward Dark Cupid, who was trying to wash his hands and bow so they wouldn’t stick anymore. 

Chat grabs the brooch, “Thanks! Here my lady! A gift!” He tosses it to her and she catches it. 

She catches and laughs, “Aww ya shouldn’t have~” She then drops it and stomps on it “Whoopsie daisy~” She catches the little akuma and purifies it. “Bye Bye Little Butterfly~… MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!” She calls as she throws her lucky charm into the air and the healing light goes to fix the town. 

She grins and her second to last warning beep goes off. Their eyes grow wide and they bolt away leaving Kim very confused. 

“What just happened?” he rubbed his head and took the freshly repaired brooch. He wasn’t an idiot. He had seen them before when Ivan was turned into that giant rock monster. 

“Who were they?” Someone asked, “I never seen em before…” 

“Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Kim replied and began to describe how he seen them before and what happened to Ivan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloé had been humiliated by Sabrina of all people.

Sabrina, the lowest of the low; her glorified lap dog. 

When Sabrina was hit by that strange flying man in bright red, she changed. Her pale pink lips were stained black and her usual docile personality became harsh. 

She had been insulted and pushed into the mud in front of many people. Her hair and dress became ruined and her pride wounded.

Sabrina claimed all that happened was Chloé’s fault and no one, especially Adrien, will ever love her. Sabrina seemed to know exactly where she was the weakest and Chloé’s retorts of “You’re lying! Everyone loves me!” seemed weak, even to her own ears.

When Sabrina was returned to normal, she had no idea why her mistress was on the ground and dirty.

“Mi…..” she starts and Chloé snaps at her. “Just go home, and be quiet Sabrina!” 

Sabrina flinches but nods and quickly disappears. Chloé just sits in the abandoned alley. She is angry and hurt and sits there. She is there for a little bit when from the corner of her eye she sees a flash of bright pink light. She than hears voices and she is intrigues she sneaks around, a feat for her, and sees a man dressed in black with cat ears and the stupid mermaid. 

“That was too close Chat….”

“Yea… We are almost there….”

Chloé glares, so this mermaid played not only this guy but her beloved Adrien. She knew the mermaid was no good. She had to protect Adrien from this two timing siren. She had to find the incompetent hunter and had to do it now. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Théo had just arrived in town and was bombarded with more activity than usual. He asked around and some interesting reactions. People were scared, worried, weary and awed.

Some people eyed him like he was going to attack them. Some people looked worried and were looking over their shoulders. Some were excitedly gushing about the events of the last few hours. The monster that appeared turning people against their friends and lovers and the two new heroes that seemed to be called Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

He never saw Ladybug before but based on the description of Chat Noir matched the cat looking man in black who has his mermaid. He had to find them.

Instead Miss Bourgeois found him.

She dragged him to a nearby café and they ordered some things from menu. The girl in front of him was livid. He wasn’t any better. He has been walking for days and trying to track things that moved too fast. He didn’t appreciate this younger girl, no matter what her rank, looking at him like he personally insulted her and he had to fix it.

“I saw her, what WAS she doing here?” Chloé said in a very agitated tone 

“Who did you see?” said a very unkempt and annoyed Théo, he had no desire to play twenty questions with this girl. He was a busy man, unlike her.

“The mermaid, you idiot!” She hisses.

“Wait, WHAT?!” He nearly screams as his palms hit the table so hard the tea cups jump a bit and a small amount of tea spills out onto the table. She, in turn, jumps.

“Hey watch it! This dress is more than your worth!” 

“She was stolen from me days ago! I have been trying to get her back since then!” 

“Well, it seems I found the thief. It was a man with blonde hair and bright green eyes… he was all dressed in black with cat ears and a tail! It was strange!’ She sips her tea, looking at him through her long fake eyelashes “He had the mermaid in his arms. They looked quite chummy together. She seemed to be wearing a long skirt to hide the tail, but they could not fool me. I am much too clever. I wouldn’t forget the face of anyone who tried to take my beloved Adrikins away from me.” 

He tries to calm down, “A guy…. In a cat suit had her?” 

She nods, “Indeed, Good to see you are not hard of hearing,” she said dryly. “I do not like weird people and mermaids in my home town. See if you can get rid of them. I don’t care HOW I just need it done. I have more important things to worry about.” 

He nods and gets up. He fought to roll his eyes at her. What did she have to do other than shop and boss people around because she was daddy’s little princess. While he didn’t like being commanded by someone younger than him, but he was going to do it anyway so he didn’t mind keeping her happy and let her think she was in control. 

“They were heading toward the ocean last I saw. I’d head there.” As she put down her cup, “I am assuming that black cat wants to return the fish…. Kinda ironic huh? “She gives a humorless chuckle at her own joke. 

He says nothing and quickly leaves. He is mad, nothing could quell the anger. His anger seemed to be a beacon for a certain man. A deep purple butterfly lands on his satchel and the purple outline of a butterfly mask appears over his eyes.

“Hello Copycat, I am Hawkmoth. I am here to grant you what you want, the return of your beloved mermaid. All you have to do is get me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses.”

“Of course, Hawkmoth.”

His satchel begins to glow a sickly purple and the purple glow travels up his arms and incases him, changing him into an exact copy of Chat Noir.

“I tried to be nice and fair… but that is over now. Time to play dirty, little mermaid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and now we are officially caught up with the fanfiction.net version of the story =u=
> 
> Master list for the series and it's art http://sakuramarie.tumblr.com/post/164577943471/master-list-for-when-the-land-met-the-sea
> 
> Also Kudos and Comments make me happy


	9. Well, We Made It Somehow

Copycat was not a dummy.

If one wanted to catch a little mermaid, one had to think like a fisherman and set a trap.

He chuckled at the irony of a fish trusting a cat.

He grinned as he landed in front of someone. He assumed it was some random person who could persuade to help him. It  
turned out to be Sabrina, Chloe's servant. She looked utterly miserable until she saw Copycat and was startled.

He grins at her. "Hello~" he purred. "I need a little help, just need to pick up someone Lady Chloe tipped me off to… a woman being carried by another cat man… my imposter…"

"L-Lady Chloe? " He nods, "Find the woman and lead me to her… I am sure Lady Chloe would be so proud you helped find her. You see, she shouldn't be here and she and your mistress don't like each other."

Sabrina thinks on this. Her mistress was extra angry about someone new with Adrien. That must be the woman. "I know where she might be…" She then directed him to Adrien's house and was about to leave to go home when he grabbed her arm "

You did the right thing, Miss…"

"Sabrina."

"Well Miss Sabrina… tell your Mistress the one formally known as Théo Barbot thanks you for your…. Services in finding a troublesome little fish and cat." He said cryptically as he sees something in the distance.

"Go home," he tells her in an ominous tone that scares Sabrina and she quickly runs off.

He confidently strode over to the form just a bit away from where Sabrina left him.

There somewhat hidden was Marinette in her mermaid form, waiting for Adrien. He had to quickly grab food for their Kwami and he couldn't carry both the food and her, so he left her to wait just outside the gate.

Marinette tensed when she heard a noise and Tikki instantly flew into her bag. She then relaxes when she sees Copycat.

"Oh you're back!… but why are you in your Chat form? I would've thought Plagg would whine at you to eat more of his beloved cheese." She giggles as Copycat gives a chuckle. He had no idea who "Plagg" was but he wasn't going to show that.

"Well … uh he wasn't that hungry."

Marinette stops mid giggle. That didn't sound right; not at all. Something was wrong. "Chat, is something wrong with Plagg…..? I may not know Plagg as well as you or Tikki but he is such a cheese hound…."

Tikki peeks out from her purse and glares. She whispers to Marinette, "Plagg would NEVER not be hungry. Be careful Marinette."

Copycat falters; Marinette's voice and posture screamed "defensive" she was not being fooled. She knew he was not the right Chat. Still it didn't matter, she was left alone, which was foolish of the stupid cat. He simply grins wickedly and scoops her up.

She screams and starts pounding on his back with her fists.

"LET ME GO, YOU FAKE!"

Adrien was returning with food and Plagg was happily munching on cheese when he heard Marinette's scream. His eyes grow wide and he bolts. He gripped the bag of cookies, hoping he could get them to Tikki in time.

"Plagg! Have you eaten enough to transform?!"

Plagg inhales the cheese, "Yeah, yeah."

"Plagg! CLAWS OUT!"

Chat Noir nearly breaks part of the iron of the gate, and sees… another Chat Noir with a struggling Marinette and hears her order to be let go.

"Ya know, the little lady has quite a set of claws. Ya better let her go, or it could be a pawsitively bad time for you!"

"Chat! The real one! I know those bad puns anywhere!"

"Me-ouch Princess! You wound me with your words!"

She playfully rolls her eyes "Help a girl out… I am awfully hungry for cookies. Can't fight on an empty stomach."

"Of course~" He uses his baton to stab Copycat in the stomach and he drops Marinette. The two cats engage in battle and  
Marinette uses the distraction to escape. She finds a bag of cookies Chat dropped for Tikki and she lets Tikki eat. "Come on  
Tikki! Let's help Chat. I bet that fake Chat is an akuma!"

Tikki nods and quickly eats.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Copycat was a very aggressive Akuma. He seemed to flat out ignore Ladybug and was constantly trying to get rid of Chat. It was clear that Chat was the target of the Akuma's rage.

"Chat what on EARTH did you to anger him?!" Ladybug said as she pulls Chat up and over and a ledge to escape a dangerous attack.

"Bugaboo when I find out, I'll let ya know!"

Copycat glares, "Of course, you sneaky conniving cat would deny what you did to me!"

"Remind me what I seemed to have done to you. I've never met you!"

"You stole her! MY mermaid! I found her and you stole her in the night! I want her back! I want her NOW!"

Both Ladybug and Chat Noir halt, and Ladybug takes a step back and observes the Akuma who now launches himself toward Chat.

All Chat can do is block Copycat's attack. "What makes you think I stole her?"

"I saw you carry her away! I have been trying to catch you for days but I kept getting stuck… but no longer! Where are you hiding her?"

Chat Noir glares, "I didn't kidnap her; that was YOU... I was just helping take her home like she wanted! She was miserable, and you know it!"

"If given enough time, she would have been comfortable."

"That's bull and you know it!" Chat Noir shouted.

Their fight was pushing them closer and closer to the sea.

Ladybug looks at the akumatized artist and tries to find something off about him and sees something she never noticed, a small satchel that was pure black and blended perfectly with his suit. It looked similar to the bag she remembered him having, but it was no way smaller.

"Bingo!~" she muttered. "CHAT! The BAG!" she calls, and Chat looks to find the bag. Before he could even make a swipe at it though, Copycat uses his baton to hit him into a sand dune.

Chat winces, "He is clawfully fast! And he hits hard."

"Not enough that you stop punning," Ladybug comments dryly as she runs to Chat and helps him up. We need a plan. He is just as good as you."

"I noticed, so what is the plan?"

"We need a distraction… and not you. He is focusing on you…. DUCK!" They both dodge another vicious attack.

"The only thing he is after is a certain mermaid, and no way in hell am I gonna risk her." He said giving her a pointed stare. It felt odd pretending Marinette and Ladybug were the two different entities, but Copycat couldn't learn that the mermaid was closer than he thinks.

"Maybe the mermaid should be given an option!" she said in a huff. "We need a break! We can't keep this up!"

"Absolutely NOT! Too Risky!" he shouted as he kept dodging. He was not going to risk her safety or even her identity to this Akuma especially. He would fight until he was beaten… not that he planned to lose this imposter.

Suddenly a melodious tune played on a flute began to play. Copycat looks up and stops in his tracks "You sneaky… she was here this entire time! "

The Lady and cat's eyes grow wide as they at first think Copycat somehow figured it out but they are stunned when he jumps over them and runs toward the sea. They blink and jump up to see what caught Copycat's attention and were floored when they see Marinette as a mermaid in the sea.

"T-that's impossible…"

Tikki screeches in Ladybug's mind, "Questions later! Lucky Charm now!"

Ladybug nods and yells out her lucky charm. A large ball made of rubber bands that was red with black spots falls into her hands.

"What am I supposed to do with this!?"

She looks around and a plan forms in her head. "Chat, get ready… I am going to play ball!"

She uses her yoyo to launch the ball as fast and hard as she can at Copycat. Chat had already started chasing down Copycat, so when he saw the ball go overhead he grinned. Oh his little imposter was gonna be in a lot of pain in a second.

The ball hits Copycat with such force that his bag goes flying, but somehow it gets caught in a loose rubber band. Copycat hits the ground with a hard and loud smack and blacks out. Chat Noir untangles the tiny black satchel from the ball and throws it to his lady. While in the air, he launches himself into the air and uses a Cataclysm on it, and a little black butterfly is released.

"No more evildoing for you, little Akuma! Time to de-evilize!"

She catches the little butterfly and purifies it.

"Bye bye, Little Butterfly" she then throws the rubber band ball in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

"Well… that was interesting" Said a familiar voice. The two whip around, and sitting on a rock holding a flute was a foxlike mermaid. Her orange tail with black and white patterns reminded Chat of a fox, especially when said mermaid sported fox ears. The mask on her face concealed her identity.

"So you are the two heroes… One of you HAS to be Adrien and I am gonna bet it is the boy in black," she said with a smirk.

Chat Noir chokes a bit, "Well, there goes my secret identity." he thinks.

"Your look of distress confirms it, human boy. Where is Marinette now?" She looks at the now restored Théo. "He was the one who took her, wasn't he?"

Chat Noir releases his transformation. "Well, well, well… Trixx finally woke herself up after nearly a millennia, and Kwamis call me lazy!" Plagg snickers.

Trixx didn't even wait for Alya to release the transformation. "Oi! Cheese brain! Don't be rude!"

Alya glares at Adrien "Seriously where is she? … I swear if….!"

"Alya! Calm down! She's here!" Adrien said waving his hands in the sign of surrender.

Ladybug gulps; her time of judgment had arrived. She was vaguely aware of Nino watching nearby with an unimpressed look at Adrien.

"Where? Cause the only Marinette I saw today was an illusion made by Alya when she was Volpina," Nino said.

Ladybug walked into the water with as much bravery as she could. When the water was at her waist, her legs were replaced by a tail, but before anyone could say anything-

"Tikki, Spots off."

A pink glow of sparkles encase her and her mask and ladybug suit disappear, and Marinette is left in her human disguise, the skirt billowing out in an amusing way.

Alya and Nino are in shock as she removes the skirt and blouse and tosses them to Adrien on the shore. She is now as she should look, with her usual mermaid top and her beautiful tail visible.

Marinette now cowers in fear of a VERY agitated Alya. She has just dropped her transformation and is glaring daggers at Marinette.

"Uh… H-Hi Alya?" she responded weakly with an even weaker wave.

"Don't "H-Hi Alya" ME Marinette Dupain-Cheng!... put that hand down," she ordered.

Marinette smacks her hand down so quickly it sent water flying.

"Do you have ANY idea how WORRIED I WAS?" She shrieks while gripping Marinette's shoulders and shaking her roughly.

Incoherent squeaks were released from the terrified mermaid. Adrien wanted nothing more than to save his friend, but he knew it was his funeral. Nino just backs away slowly; this was Marinette's punishment and he knew Marinette had it coming. Trixx just watched the fireworks; this was amazing.

"So when where ya gonna tell us about THIS!?"

"Err… of what exactly?" she asked nervously. There were quite a few things she could be referring to. Marinette kept a lot of secrets.

"Oh you know… your VERY illegal activities and your whole "I am a magical girl now" thing. ANYTHING ELSE I AM MISSING! Cause if I find out one more thing so help me I will ring your teeny tiny neck!"

Marinette had no doubt Alya would do just that and no one would find her body, "W-well… I may have had healing powers since I was young… and I had healed my parents, Nino and especially you at night …. Among other powers? "

Alya simply blinks and rubs her temples, "OF COURSE YOU WOULD! OF COURSE!"

Nino puts a hand on each of the girl's shoulders, "Let's just find a nice secluded area where we won't be discovered. Let's talk about this like civilized merfolk…" he then turns to Adrien and Plagg. "And civilized humans and Kwamis."

Alya takes a deep breath and releases Marinette.

Adrien looks a bit nervous, "Let's go back to my place… not many people will stop there. We have a lot to tell you." He nods to Marinette, "You know the way right? Stay hidden till I give the signal, ok?"

Marinette nods and ducks into the water and Alya and Nino follow. As they leave, Théo Barbot begins to awake. Adrien jumps and Plagg hides.

"O-oh Hi! You ok?" he asked, helping the older man up.

"Yes… but what happened …how did I get here?" Théo asked rubbing his head.

"You uh… turned into some clone of this cat hero and chased them here… one of them broke your bag and a butterfly came out and it was purified." Adrien said feigning ignorance.

"I see… did you see where he went?"

Adrien stiffens, "I think they went back to town, but they disappeared so quickly. I was just taking a walk along the beach… debating where to put new nets, I am a fisherman you see." Adrien quickly lied.

"I see… Thank you, sir… That cat has something that is mine."

Adrien bristles at that comment but bites his tongue. He wanted nothing more than to give him a piece of his mind and yell that Marinette is NOT his property. She is a living being with thoughts and feelings. Just because she was a mermaid she was not a pet.

"I see… well yeah, they went back in the direction of the town." He said in a controlled voice.

"Did I say anything… when I was the cat?"

"Something about mermaids…, which is silly! Those are only in legends!" he said quickly trying to cause Théo doubt in his head, but Théo only smirks at him and waves. Théo turns on his heel and leaves.

Adrien watches him leave and bolts back home before he does something stupid.

Adrien arrives to the others and takes off his shoes sits down near the rock formation reserved for Marinette. He then puts his feet in the water and drops a rock into the sea. In less than a minute three heads pop up and meet him.

"Took you long enough, pretty boy." Alya sassed.

"I ran into …some trouble."

Marinette gulps, "That human artist?"

He nods and she pales.

"Whoa whoa… let's start from the top, ok? Alya and I have NO idea what all this means. Explain from the start….. Yes Marinette, that includes how you met Legs over here. We know you were sneaking around before you were captured, don't deny it."

Marinette flushes but huffs out, "I wasn't!"

"Good, cause I would have to strangle you," Alya threatens.

"I'll keep that in mind," Marinette said nervously.

Marinette begins to recount her story with Alya constantly interrupting.

"SO … THAT is how you managed to get yourself taken care of. Legs here patched you up!"

"My name is Adrien…."

"Hush Sunshine," Alya said.

Nino shrugs and looks apologetically at Adrien.

She than describes her rendezvous with Adrien.

"Girl, you best be happy WE are the ones who caught you that day. You always tell ME to not take any risks and here you are BREAKING THE BIGGEST LAW ever."

"…. Uhhh … Well…you are too?"

"Hush Child, this is about YOUR bad decisions, not mine."

Adrien snickers at this, and Marinette glares at him.

"Well I am gonna admit it, Nettie… I do not like this… at all. I do not like you putting yourself in danger like this. This is even worse than Alya and her treasure hunts… at least if we get caught we just get a slap on the wrist… you can get banished or ki-"

Marinette cuts him off by covering his mouth, "I get it Nino! I get it!"

"MMMPPPHHH," he whines and she uncovers his mouth slowly.

"What I mean to say. Do I approve of this? NOPE … but I will support you …"

Marinette smiles and gives Nino a side hug, "It will be fine, I am good luck… especially now with Tikki!"

"How DID you meet her anyway?" Alya asks. "I found Trixx here on a fancy smancy sunken ship. She was like in this necklace," She shows off the fox tail necklace.

"After I was caught by the human artist, Tikki appeared to me in the tank I was trapped in and gave me the earrings." She moves some hair so they could easily see the now black earrings. "I became Ladybug when I could and escaped. I found Adrien after awhile and we fought our first Akuma."

"What the shell is an Akuma?" they asked, and Trixx looks upset.

"An Akuma… you mean Nooroo is behind this?" Trixx asked.

"Who?" Nino and Alya asked annoyed at not getting answers.

Trixx sighed and settled down in Adrien's head so she could look at the two clueless ones.

"Nooroo is a sweet cinnamon roll of love and sweetness. Easily controlled, and can help someone be easily controlled. The kwami of change… it makes sense though, since they are the patron kwami of butterflies: the symbol of change. He's also fun to relentlessly tease, but that is beside the point. Let me guess…" she turns to her fellow kwamis. " Nooroo's chosen is a jerk face again? Why do they attract such bad people?"

Tikki shakes her head "No… someone forcibly awoke Nooroo somehow. This is NOT Nooroo's true chosen. I am not sure WHO it is, but whoever has Nooroo now is NOT the chosen."

Trixx blinks, "But how? That's near impossible!"

Plagg groans, "Ask us a question we DO know. All we know is that our chosen and us need to save Nooroo, and see if we can locate the others and their chosens. A misused Kwami is very dangerous."

"Agreed."

"It's three against one! It will be a piece of cake!" Alya said confidently.

"Fight your first real Akuma lil kit, and then tell me if it will be as easy as you think."

"Oh come on, that Copycat guy was easy!"

"Yea because we weakened him first!" Plagg replied.

Before Alya could retort, a very familiar screech filled the air.

"OH ADRIKINS~~~ WHERE ARE YOU~~"

"Quick hide!" Adrien hissed as he tried to push Plagg in his pocket.

Marinette thought fast, If Chloé got her slimy little human hands on Adrien, she'd never let him go and they had a meeting to do. That was her story and she was gonna stick to it. She was NOT acting like a jealous little guppy. Absolutely not! All her motives were purely professional. She pushes herself onto the rock closest to Adrien and nearly tackles him into the water as she roughly grabs him and kisses him. He is stunned and he topples into the water and out of view of Chloé.

"Adrikins? You aren't back home yet? Uggghhhh," She stomps her foot childishly after a few minutes of searching and leaves to walk along the beach where Adrien had been earlier.

Alya and Nino raise their eyebrow in perfect unison. Seeing their sweet and innocent friend just roughly kiss the human and drag him underwater was a shock. It was even a bigger shock when they see him breathing perfectly fine underwater. Marinette blushes as she notices her friend's open mouthed expression.

"W-Well … I had to… s-s-save him …."

Nino somehow raises his eyebrow further, "Save him from what exactly?"

"You don't know Chloé. She might as well be part banshee… and part octopus," Marinette mumbles bitterly and Adrien snorts.

"… Giiirrrlll …. How the shell did you know that making out with a human allows him to breathe underwater?…" Alya smirks.

"It wasn't making out… it was just one kiss," she looks away blushing and Adrien rubs the back of his neck nervously, a blush was on his face.

"Yea Mari… I gotta know … how did THIS happen. I am sure this is not the first time, you grabbed him roughly," Nino said, a sly look on his face.

Marinette looks mortified. " I-I !" she makes intelligible noises when Alya and Nino share a look.

Marinette looks at Adrien with a look of " HELP" on her face.

"It… was an accident? "

"Ahh so Blondie speaks, tell me how was it an accident? I am dyyyinnng to know~"

Adrien is deeply regretting his life choices as he begins to tell his tale of how during a rather animated discussion he leans in too much to the sea and she rises to much meet him. He slipped and she was pushed up by a rogue wave.

"So… uh… yea… it was an accident and I fell head first in … and when I panicked a bit I learned I could breathe underwater?" He said in a nervous voice.

"So…. Was it nice?" Alya said trying to hide a smug little smirk when she sees the two were going really red.

"A-ALYA! " Marinette cried, utterly mortified that her friend asked.

Tikki giggles, "It isn't SO strange. That ability used to be very common thousands of years ago, just like singing that can lure the other species to them… although the trait was more common in merfolk." She looks at the three merpeople. " Merfolk have more magic than humans."

Plagg makes a face of disgust and shivers, "Don't remind me, Tikki. Those two abilities gave me nightmares for eons."

Trixx laughs, "I am sure my kits were more creative than your cats, mine all had the ability !~"

Plagg gags while Adrien looks confused. Marinette looks scandalized and Alya and Nino laugh their heads off with Trixx.

'Guys.. I don't get it" Adrien said, clearly bewildered.

Alya pets Adrien's head. "You poor innocent sunshine child, Maybe Marinette can … demonstrate better" Alya's old rage to the human was quickly starting to ease up. This human was far too innocent, and messing with him would be quite fun.

Marinette shrieks. "A-ALYA!" she is now beet red.

Nino grins "Careful, Marinette might make the water boil with how much heat she is producing."

"N-NINO!" Marinette tries to shush her friends as Adrien looks at them, clearly not understanding any of the implications.

"Whoever was supposed to teach you the ways of the world REALLY messed you up, dude." Nino said with a smirk.

Sounds of Marinette's embarrassment and mortification intensify.

"You brought this on yourself Marinette, and we are just taking advantage of the situation." Trixx said deviously as Marinette buries her face into her hands. Alya and Nino just to laugh and hi five Trixx. Tikki just pats Marinette's back trying to soothe the poor mermaid.

Eventually, but not fast enough for Marinette, the kwami and her friends finally stopped laughing at her and her impulsive actions and get down to business. Discussing the mission seemed to mostly serious and they got a lot of planning and information sharing done until Marinette had to kiss Adrien again so he could continue to breathe.

"N-not a WORD" she said as her everyone laughs at her red face "not a single WORD"

'Your reaction IS …." Adrien started.

"If you DARE pun … I-I-.."

"What make out with him to death? Ooohhh he is shaking, aren't ya pretty boy," Alya teased.

"I wouldn't be opposed to it~" Adrien grins.

"UGH," she does that crazy flustered arm motion she does and huffs. "Meeting adjourned. I AM GOING HOME!" She tries to swim toward the kingdom and somehow ends up on her face.

"I HATE MY LIFE," she said in a muffled yell.

"GO HOME BEFORE WE ARE ALL HUNTED BY YOUR MAMA!" Alya yells out and Marinette makes some noise as she swims off.

When Marinette is gone Alya and Trixx laughs "You really are a fox aren't ya" Trixx said to Alya.

"I guess I am … or maybe I am just surrounded by teasable people~."

Alya faces Adrien. "Now then ~" Adrien suddenly gulps. "Let's get to know each other… we are gonna be part of a team… same with you, Lahiffe! You are part of the team!"

"Uh? But I don't …"

"You are part of the team… even if you are the mascot and moral support!"

"Gee thannnkksss, Babe." he said sarcastically. "Glad to know you think of me as a mascot. " There was no real bite in his voice though.

Adrien snorts at this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette is nearly tackled by her parents. She felt horrible lying to her parents about her location but she could never ever reveal her little adventure in the human world.

She wasn't going to lie to herself, she was still a bit nervous Alya and Nino knew it all. It was a big risk not only for her but for them now as well.

After her parents stop fussing over her and she has convinced them Alya and Nino were right all along, she goes to her room and makes herself comfortable.

"Tikki…How will we know when Nooroo is active again?"

"I'll feel it, Plagg and I can usually sense when another Kwami's power is activated for a few seconds. We are the most powerful after all…" She nuzzles Marinette's cheek.

"Rest for now, if I am right, it will take a while for Nooroo to charge again. Their power is being abused and this "Hawkmoth" has sent out a lot of Akumas all at once."

Marinette shudders at the memory of meeting Hawkmoth through a flock of corrupted butterflies. He talked to them and threatened them. He was going to take their miraculouses away by force if he had too. She would never give up Tikki to be hurt and neither would Adrien.

"Hey Tikki… Do you think Hawkmoth will go after Alya and Trixx?"

"I bet my cookies he will. He seems like a power hungry man, and extra power to do … whatever he is planning to do … will be ideal I bet." She looks down at her worried charge "Hey… it's ok… We'll keep each other safe… You will be a great team! I just know it!"

"I know… I just… am worried… Hawkmoth seems so dangerous, and he might know who I am…."

"It's going to be fine… We will cross that bridge when we get there, ok? Just relax and get your strength up… You haven't been in the ocean for days. We want you to be in top form when he attacks again! We also need to collect the rest of the jewelry and that is gonna take a while I bet."

Marinette smiles and cuddles the Kwami, "Yea, we'll get him and fix everything."

"Marinette! Who are you talking to?' Her mom calls out.

Marinette shrieks as Tikki hides. "UH! M-Myself! Talking to my self! Eh he he!"

Her mom raises an eyebrow "Are you … alright sweetie?"

" R-rest! I need a nap! Long day! Night!" she waves nervously as her mom looks at her skeptically, shrugs and swims off.

"My poor sweet but weird daughter…"

Marinette sighs and hugs Tikki, "That was too close…" She whispers. "Hopefully I can spend a few days here and just visit Adrien tonight. Hopefully Alya didn't mess with him too much…"

Tikki agrees and snuggles against Marinette and they both fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was pretty late when Marinette visited Adrien for the third night in a row.

What she expected was Adrien sitting on the shore with that sweet smile on his face patiently awaiting her arrivial. What she saw was far from that. He looked exhausted and his eyes were bloodshot. He had such a faraway look in his eyes it broke her heart. 

Something happened.

"A-Adrien? …" she whispers moving as close as she could to him, "Adrien… what's wrong …"

He doesn't answer for a few moments and Marinette just holds his hand, tracing patterns into his palm.

"The nightmares…. They are back…."

"Nightmares?"

"On the days leading to my mother's disappearance…. I get nightmares…. About her… it is almost as if… one of those nightmares is what really happened…. But…. I don't know what happened … what if…. One of them is a sign of some kind? … What if it's all just in my head? …. "

Her poor kitten.

He seemed absolutely miserable at all these nightmares that seemed to be pelting him.

She gently kisses him and drags him into the water. She keeps him close and rubs his back. She does her best to soothe the boy.  
It seems like being underwater with her seemed to calm him.

"We'll be ok… it's …o-ok. The nightmares will end soon…"

"I miss them"

"I know…"

"I shouldn't feel like this, I should be over it by now…it's been years Marinette… YEARS."

His voice is super thick, like he was trying to stop himself from crying. "This is the fifth anniversary of her disappearance…" he couldn't seem to finish.

"You… You will never stop missing your mother… or even the man that was once your loving father. "

He doesn't say anything as he just snuggles into her.

"You will be ok… I promise… You are so strong… so, so strong… You've been through so much Adrien. And look at you. You are the sweetest most wonderful human in the whole world. You could have grown up to be so bitter and angry." 

She threads her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. She pauses for a bit and continues.

"And in those moments you can't be strong, I will be right here to support you. Just like you support me. You also have Plagg, Alya, Nino, Tikki and even Trixx. You aren't alone anymore and we won't allow you to be alone anymore."

She watches him as small amounts of tears escape from his eyes and float upward, "Shh… let it out… it's ok… it's ok…"

They stay floating like that for a bit longer until he has fallen asleep.

Marinette smiles sadly at him and gently pulls him up toward the bank and lies him down. She hoists herself onto the bank toward his bag and pulls out his blanket and a towel. She dries him off as best she could and puts the blanket over him. She gently kisses his forehead and as she goes back down she bumps into Nino.

"Is he…. Gonna be ok?"

She nods, "I think so… he just… went through a lot, and it affects him more than he knows. You saw it didn't you?"

He nods "I am not gonna ask what happened but… If he ever needs a dude to listen to him… let him know I am available… the human… well he isn't as bad as I thought, and seeing him that upset…. It seemed like the worst thing to witness. He seems so happy and carefree ya know?"

She nods, "It feels like a crime for him to be so hurt doesn't it? I think though… he will get through it. He needs as many friends as he can get… so you offering to be there for him will mean the world to him."

He blinks, "Why would he need friends? He seems like the kind of guy who'd have tons of friends."

Marinette sighs and sits on the sandy ocean floor. "He's been put in a forced isolation… not only by his own father but by his town… he has … a reputation for bad luck. Not many people want anything to do with him…" she replies sadly.

Nino looks almost horrified, "Dude… that sucks… forced isolation seems like torture." He then makes a determined face. "That's it, he may be a human but he is an ok dude and he saved my adopted lil sis, so…we shall become Bros!"

Marinette giggles, " I am glad you feel that way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finially both versions are officially caught up now~ Plus this chapter does have a piece of art for it. It is either on my Tumblr or Deviantart  
> http://fav.me/dbqru3j or http://sakuramarie.tumblr.com/post/166467625996/finially-i-can-show-this-picture-that-has-been
> 
> Take your pick~
> 
> Also I am VERY aware of certain name spoilers. It will be addressed later, don't worry lol XD

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to my Beta Reader , Rosalind2013 on fanfiction.net.  
> Check out my Tumblr for art. Here is the Master List for it. Will be updated whenever I add something new. 
> 
> http://sakuramarie.tumblr.com/post/164577943471/master-list-for-when-the-land-met-the-sea


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